A letter from a government institution with good news — you are supposed to get money back. Sounds good, and scammers in Slovakia are now making money on this hope. The Financial Administration of Slovakia (Finančná správa — tax authority of the country) officially warned: fake messages about alleged tax overpayments are again being sent by mail and SMS.
The warning was issued on August 3, reports TASR. The agency's press secretary Daniel Kováč confirmed: criminals pretend to be the tax authority, promise tax refunds, and thus trick people into giving personal and banking data.
What the trap looks like
The scheme is worked out in detail. You receive a letter in your mail designed as an official message from Finančná správa (tax authority) or even the Ministry of Finance. It contains happy news: you have a tax overpayment, and the money is ready to be returned to your card. You just need to follow the link and “confirm” your personal and banking data.
To be convincing, scammers specify exact amounts and add pressure. In one recorded letter, the “refund” offered was 425.58 euros — with a threat that if you do not fill out the application immediately, you will lose the chance for online refund forever. The link leads to a phishing site where all entered data goes directly to the scammers.
The letters are not the only method. Similar messages with the same phishing links come by SMS, so the circle of potential victims is wider.
Why this concerns Ukrainians too
If you work in Slovakia, have a živnosť (sole-trader licence — self-employment) or just file an annual tax return, your contacts can also end up in the mailing list. And if a person is not fully familiar with local bureaucracy, they are more vulnerable: real tax overpayments are common here, so the letter looks quite believable.
Losing money from your card is not the worst scenario. After getting your personal data, scammers can use it for further frauds: take out loans, hack your email, or access banking apps.
How to tell a real message from a fake
It’s simple here because the tax authority named the main sign. Finančná správa (tax authority) never asks taxpayers to send or confirm personal and banking data through links in letters or SMS. Never. So any message with such a request is fraud by definition, no matter how official it looks.
And this is not a one-time scam campaign. Similar waves of attacks were recorded in April 2024, then in December 2024 and January 2025. Scammers return to this scheme regularly, especially during tax campaign periods.
What to do if you already received the letter
The recommended steps by the tax authority:
- Do not follow any links from the letter or SMS and do not open attachments.
- Do not enter any data — neither personal nor banking.
- Delete the message.
- Report the case to the Slovak police.
If you doubt whether the message really came from the tax authority (for example, you are really expecting a tax refund), check it through the official Finančná správa call center at 048/4317 222. More important emergency and hotline contacts are collected on our page phones in Slovakia.
And a traditional advice worth forwarding to relatives: if you already entered card data on a suspicious site, immediately block the card through your bank and change passwords. The faster you do it, the less chance scammers have.
