Nowra Police have reported a number of calls from local residents who were concerned about calls claiming to be from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), threatening jail or arrest if the resident did not pay a fictitious tax bill.

The ATO warned of the aggressive phone scam where fraudsters intimidate people into paying a phoney tax bill.

“We would never cold call you about a debt, we would never threaten jail or arrest, and our staff certainly wouldn’t behave in an aggressive manner,” said ATO second commissioner Geoff Leeper.

“We make thousands of outbound calls to taxpayers a week, but there are some key differences to a legitimate call from the ATO and a call from a potential scammer.”

Mr Leeper said scammers pretending to be from the ATO were more common at tax time, and people should be vigilant to protect their personal information.

If people thought they had fallen victim to a scam, they could contact the ATO on 13 28 69, visit the ATO website or the consumer watchdog’s SCAMwatch.