Privacy Awareness Week

The ATO is supporting Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) 2014, 4 -10 May.

YOUR IDENTITY IS IMPORTANT – PROTECT IT!

Confident your personal information is secure?

John Becker, Chief Information Security Officer at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), says Privacy Awareness Week is a reminder to everyone to keep identity and other important personal information secure.

“Don’t allow your Tax File Number (TFN) and other crucial information to be easy pickings for identity thieves. So keep your TFN secure and don’t put it into your mobile phone or keep it written down in your wallet or purse.

“Those are the first places identity thieves target. They can make your life a misery, running up huge bills or committing tax or other fraud, leaving you to pick up the pieces.

“I would also stress that the ATO will never contact you to ask you to confirm your TFN, ABN, bank account or other financial or personal details.”

“For our key tips on identity crime, including protecting your Tax File Number (TFN) visit our site Protect your TFN and read Watch out for scams – protect yourself.

Also you can do the ID theft test ID theft tool to check how at risk you are.

47 Comments

- - mouse said
  - 17 May 2014
    10:48 am
it is very important to protect our privacy

- - twinmum2 said
  - 16 May 2014
    1:01 pm
It’s a worry how much information is available on the internet already about all of us.

- - meimei said
  - 16 May 2014
    12:12 pm
Thank you for the information. Protect our privacy from theft.

- - hopefullyheidi said
  - 15 May 2014
    9:33 pm
I don’t think I will do the test- it’s too alarming to think that someone could steal your whole identity.

- - damish70 said
  - 14 May 2014
    10:11 pm
Privacy policies are there to protect us & our personal information even though they can be frustrating at times when all you want is a simple question answered.

- - shareem said
  - 13 May 2014
    11:54 am
Privacy Awareness Week was held from 4 to 10 May 2014. I wonder how many people know that in March 2014, significant changes to Australian privacy laws were implemented and how they are effected by them. From the OAIC – Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) is an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities forum (APPA) held every year to promote awareness of privacy issues and the importance of the protection of personal information. Activities are held across the Asia Pacific region by APPA members.

- - Gracelow said
  - 12 May 2014
    7:53 pm
I received a scam email claiming to be ATO a while back…

- - mom57522 said
  - 12 May 2014
    7:36 pm
Didn’t even know there was a privacy awareness week on.

- - coppin85 said
  - 11 May 2014
    6:47 pm
thanks for the important information 🙂

- - Happymum-2 said
  - 11 May 2014
    9:10 am
there is so much identity theft these days, you need to protect yourself

- - Happymum-2 said
  - 10 May 2014
    6:54 pm
great tips for protecting myself

- - rachkap said
  - 10 May 2014
    3:44 am
Thank you for the great tips and the website link!

- - hopefullyheidi said
  - 09 May 2014
    10:14 pm
Very important article with so many new scams emerging every day

- - catgrrl3 said
  - 09 May 2014
    2:07 pm
fantastic tips contained here, I just hate it that some documents come with your tfn already on their, like most superannuation documents

- - curlytops said
  - 09 May 2014
    12:22 pm
i did not realise that the ATO will NEVER contact you! Thanks that is good to know so if you do receive a phone call then at least you know it is a scam.

- - sarah_wardleworth said
  - 08 May 2014
    10:29 pm
Good read thank you 🙂 I always keep my personal information personal

- - cherz said
  - 08 May 2014
    5:56 pm
Great article and something we must always be aware of. The more tech savvy we get the more some people try and scam us.

- - colleen b. said
  - 08 May 2014
    12:54 pm
Good advice for us all.

- - meedee said
  - 08 May 2014
    12:52 pm
I find it amazing how many young people dont understand how careful they need to be with their tax file number.
This ID Theft is becoming quite scary

- - mouse said
  - 08 May 2014
    10:25 am
we all need to protect our privacy, i am getting calls from overseas about my pc and it was advertised on tv also