The fake fine and fake tax scam
Two opposite faces: fear of a penalty, or the mirage of a refund.
These messages pull two contrary but equally effective levers. The first brandishes an unpaid fine about to be increased, and pushes you to pay fast to avoid the penalty. The second promises a pending tax refund, and asks for your bank details to pay it. In both cases, the targeted page imitates a public site and captures a payment method or bank details.
How this scam works
The fine version sometimes puts forward a plausible registration number or date, drawn from cross-referencing or simply invented. The refund version is more insidious: it doesn't ask for money, which lulls suspicion, but for bank details, which are enough to build other frauds. The tax authorities, for their part, only refund to an account already registered in your personal space.
How to recognise it
- A tax refund is promised to you when no declared situation justifies it.
- The page's address isn't a gouv.fr domain, or adds a word in front of it.
- The message demands bank details, whereas the administration relies on those already in your space.
- A fine is announced to you without any notice of the offence received by post.
What to do after receiving this message
- 1
Set aside the offered link
Access your personal space by typing the official address yourself: any real notice is recorded there.
- 2
Check from your personal space
Both fine and refund appear in your space. Their absence is enough to settle it.
- 3
Forward to 33700
Forward the message, then send back the sender's number when the service asks.
- 4
Warn those around you
Both versions strike en masse, and the refund variant traps even wary people because it doesn't ask for money.
The reflexes to avoid absolutely
- •Never pay a fine via a link received by SMS: official notices arrive by post with a tele-payment number.
- •Never share bank details to receive a refund announced by message.
- •Don't be reassured by the presence of "gouv" in the address: only a domain ending in gouv.fr is official.
Your frequently asked questions
Do the tax authorities send SMS?
They send out notifications, but never ask for bank details or a payment via a link contained in a message.
How do I check a fine without clicking?
Log in to your space by typing the official address yourself: a real offence appears there, with the notice number received by post.
Envoyer SMS Gratuit has no connection with the organisations cited on these pages, mentioned only because scammers usurp their name. Our service is, moreover, limited to personal and occasional sends, entirely free: it broadcasts neither campaign nor commercial message, and therefore cannot be the origin of a fraudulent SMS received under our name or that of a third party.
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