sixpackad25

OK I feel sorry for you, but I am wondering why you did not ask ATO to put the money in your own account.

Was it overdrawn, was there a credit card linked to it, is your landlord chasing you?

I am very hopeful that you can answer "no" to all these points.

If you can, then what I would do is contact the Federal MP for the area you lived in, and explain to him or her that ATO altered the destination bank account for your refund following a fraudulent act, and so you would like your rebate.

ATO do record all calls, but they would have asked certain identity questions, so again, you may well struggle to get anywhere.

I would write to the Australian Police in the area either that you lived, or your friend does, and tell them that you are the victim of fraud, and believe that you are as entitled to the protection of the law just like the rest of us.

Even if the police prosecute the guy, and even if he is convicted, he cannot easily be forced to repay the money, but in the event of a conviction you could make him bankrupt if he doesn't pay you.

Good luck.

No to all those point Fisheye, I was just leaving unlikely to be back on a permanent basis and stupidly thought this would be the easiest way.

I wasn't in the county a t the time of the call, I lived with him for a while and he was able to verify with a pay slip with had my tax file number on it, I'm not sure what other security questions they ask you

I have just contacted the federal mp for area I lived in and explained the situation so I'll wait on that but has mentioned before the the police emailed me back saying this would be a civil matter which I don't understand seen as he called the ATO pretending to me then taking my money which is a case of financial fraud, I replied back explaining this and I'm still waiting to here back, I just get the impression that its not being taken seriously which is a big surprise to me

Its got to the point where its not all about the money anymore, with previous for fraud and defrauding the ATO I'd be more than happy to see him serve time for this

Catch up with him when you're over here and beat 10 shades of sh!t out of him, you still won't have your money but at least some justice will have been served.

Don't condone violence but if anyone deserves a slap its this guy, I've restrained from sending him threatening texts as this would look bad on me and used against me, so much more has come to light on this guy, hopefully karma will come to him one day

@sky, totally agree, harsh lesson definitely learned here regardless of the outcome

@blossom79, that was clearly an error on his part, if he just allowed the money to go into his account then he would've gotten away with it.

He admitted it to me via text which I have kept also when I called the ATO I couldn't verify my account, it had his email and contact number, he called before the tax was paid so I'm assuming he did this so I wouldn't receive any notification of the tax being paid

Thanks for the response all

Hey all, hoping there maybe a few experts out there who can help me with this, its a long story but I'll try and keep it as short as possible

Back in June 2012 I was due to leave Australia and move back to the UK due to the expiry of my WHV. With it being the end of the tax year I nominated the money to be put into my friends account and that he was to transfer the money once he received it, I found out later that year when calling the ATO that he had called them pretending to be me changing details on my account (had trouble verifying my own account when I called) and from there had taken and spent all of my money

I have been dealing with a few personal issues and wanted them sorted before I went down the legal route but last week I contacted the police and they said this would be a civil matter which has left me confused.

I understand that I nominated his account and that if he took my money then it would be pretty much my fault but the fact that he called the ATO pretending to be me with clear intent on taking my money is where I have the issue

The guy I'm dealing with in polite terms is not a very nice guy, he's smug and he thinks he has gotten away with stealing my money he also has previous for fraud and has spent time in jail for it, he was my best mate at the time but all this has come to light since leaving along with a few other things

Appreciate any input into this

Thank all