Portugal’s Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (AT) has reinforced its guidance on identifying phishing and smishing attempts. These scams use the name of official institutions to make fraudulent messages appear credible and persuade recipients to disclose confidential information.
Phishing generally takes place through deceptive emails, while smishing uses SMS messages, often containing links to fake websites. The messages may request an update to personal details, demand the urgent payment of an alleged debt or ask recipients to confirm banking information.
The AT advises taxpayers to be wary of unexpected communications, check the sender carefully and avoid opening unknown attachments or accessing suspicious links. Passwords, authentication codes and banking details should never be shared through email or SMS.
The tax authority also emphasizes that it does not include links in the emails it sends. Any message claiming to direct recipients to tax-service pages through an email link should therefore be treated with particular caution.
To check information about pending payments, taxpayers should access the reserved area of the Portal das Finanças directly rather than using links received by email or text message. Suspicious messages should not be answered or forwarded.
People who remain unsure can contact the AT’s telephone support centre on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Portugal Continental time.
Sources: Pplware.