The ATO warns taxpayers to be aware of a phone scam intimidating people into paying fake tax debts. It is a new approach where the scammers impersonate registered tax agents.

Recent reports to the ATO have identified that scammers coerce the victim into revealing their agent's name or initiate a three-way conversation between the scammer, the victim and another scammer impersonating the victim's registered agent. 

In a recent case, a victim withdrew thousands of dollars in cash and deposited it into a Bitcoin ATM, fearing police had a warrant out for his arrest.

The ATO has asked tax agents to inform their clients that the ATO will never demand immediate payments, threaten them with arrest or request payment by unusual means such as iTunes vouchers, store gift cards or Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The ATO says taxpayers can verify suspicious phone calls by calling 1800 008 540.