Watch out for malicious phishing emails and fraudulent customs tax assessments
The German Customs Administration expressly warns against fraud
At German Customs, we regularly hear from individuals who report having received payment requests, allegedly from German customs authorities, that threaten them with detention, criminal proceedings or confiscation of parcel consignments. Often, individuals receive demands for extremely high tax payments with the promise that a significant "remaining amount" will be written off upon immediate payment of a proposed lower amount. Beware: notices and notifications of this kind are always fraudulent!
The German customs authorities have a strong interest in ensuring that no one be harmed or defrauded by any such falsifications. We therefore ask anybody who has received such a letter and has even the slightest suspicion that something is ‘just not right’ with their customs notification to contact German Customs without hesitation.
Please help the authorities uncover these cases of fraud and, to this end, send suspicious documents electronically, by fax or letter to our Central Information Desk’s contact point with your email address, fax number or postal address. You will then receive instructions on how best to proceed.
In addition, we recommend that you contact local law enforcement, in the event that you consider the chances of a successful police intervention to be realistic. Please note that investigators have fewer options the longer you wait to file a criminal complaint after receiving a fraudulent letter.
How can you recognise malicious phishing emails and fraudulent tax assessment notices?
- Payments of customs duties and taxes are made, without exception, to accounts of the "Bundeskasse" at the "Deutsche Bundesbank". The German Customs Administration does not have accounts with banks other than the Bundesbank. All accounts at the Deutsche Bundesbank have a German IBAN starting with the letters "DE". It should be noted in particular that the German Customs Administration does not maintain accounts with foreign banks, where the IBAN does not begin with the letters "DE". Therefore, if you are asked to make payments to accounts that are not with the Deutsche Bundesbank or are in fact requested to transfer funds to a foreign bank, the notice or notification you received will most certainly be fraudulent.
- The German Customs Administration will never ask you to make a payment via a prepaid payment provider. Payments to customs are made, without exception, by bank transfer to a German bank account of the Bundeskasse.
- The German Customs Administration never sends its tax assessment notices and requests for payment by email, but by post due to formal requirements. The alternative procedure applies only if you have expressly agreed to be contacted by email.
- The fraudulent notices or notifications are often written in bad German. Often, administrative terms are used incorrectly.
- Genuine notices and notifications always bear the name and telephone number of the official responsible for the case. You should always contact the given customs authority if you suspect that you have received a fraudulent notice or notification.
- The Federal Ministry of Finance does not itself issue any notices. If you receive a notice from the Ministry, the document will certainly be a falsification.
How do German Customs handle my postal consignments?
Each customs office or authority is bound by duty to give you a legal hearing before issuing a tax assessment notice. Accordingly, no tax assessment notices or requests for payment are issued without first asking you to provide all necessary details, information or documents.
Postal and courier consignments from non-EU countries can be handled by German Customs in several ways:
- The most common way in practice is as follows: the package is accompanied by all the documents needed for the calculation of import duties (e.g. invoice, delivery note, etc.) and German Customs have no reason to doubt the veracity of this information. In this case, German Customs collect customs duties and/or taxes centrally. Accordingly, the parcel service provider regulates all customs formalities for you and initially covers the import duties. The package, which has now cleared customs, is then delivered to you as per standard procedure. In the process of delivering the package, the parcel service provider charges you the import duties that they initially covered for you.
In the event that documentation is incomplete or if information on the value/content of the shipment is suspect, the parcel is forwarded to the customs office responsible for your place of residence. The parcel service provider (in this case usually Deutsche Post AG) then informs you that a postal item has been forwarded to your customs office for processing. You then have the following options:
- You can collect the postal item in person from the customs office within either seven (in the case of letters) or 14 days (in the case of parcels). In this event, when you collect the parcel, German Customs draw up the tax assessment notice on location at the customs office after you presented the corresponding invoice and/or transport documents. Once the tax assessment notice has been issued to you, you pay the amount due directly at the customs office of payment. Under no circumstances do you have to make payments in advance!
- Once you have been informed of this situation by the parcel service provider, you can alternatively request postal clearance of the parcel from your home. In this case, please ask your customs office for the statement form required to make a declaration for your consignment. Once you have sent the completed statement form and the documents required for the customs declaration, you will receive a tax assessment notice from your customs office. Once you have paid the tax assessed in the notice, you can either collect your consignment personally at the location or have it posted to you by sending a prepaid shipping label by post to the customs office.
- Even after notification by the parcel service provider, you still can instruct the company to take care of the customs formalities for you for a fee and to initially cover the customs duties. In this case, you pay back the duties initially covered by the parcel service provider, together with the corresponding processing fee, via the parcel service employee upon delivery.
What would enforcement measures actually have to involve?
Officials of the enforcement offices of the main customs offices appear at an address to attempt enforcement only after a debtor ignores initial dunning letters and then fails to respond to subsequent enforcement notices. Enforcement officers always identify themselves with their badge or service card. You should ask for identification in case you have any doubts. If you do have doubts as to the authenticity of a presented service card, do not hesitate to get in touch with the main customs office of the alleged customs official. If an individual reacts aggressively to your intent to verify their legitimacy, then they are not a customs officer.
How can you contact German Customs?
German Customs has set up a Central Information Desk for enquiries, which you can reach as follows
If you wish, you are welcome to contact your main customs office or local customs office and clarify your questions there in person. The contact details of the customs office responsible for your matter can be found under the "Customs Office List (COL)" section online or in any telephone directory.
Customs Office List (COL)
