Traders and business establishments which have defaulted in paying taxes, beware! Not of commercial tax officers but of fake taxmen.

Of late, a number of incidents has been reported in the City, especially on Avenue Road and Mamulpet, where fake tax officers have been found conducting raids on shops and collecting illegal gratifications.

These ‘officers’, claiming to be from the intelligence wing, visited some shops last weekend and demanded bribe.

“They posed as commercial tax officers from the intelligence wing and started inspecting stocks. While they were at the job, they began negotiating with shop-owners and managed to collect bribe from them,” said Karnataka Tax Consultants Association, President S K Nahar.

He said last Saturday, three to four incidents were reported on Avenue Road and Mamulpet. During one such raid, an alert trader on Avenue Road informed his lawyer. When the lawyer arrived at his shop and asked for the officer’s ID card, he fled the scene.

Hem Raj, a garment shop owner in Parmeshwar Market, said his shop was also ‘raided’ by an officer, who fled the scene when asked to negotiate with Raj’s lawyer.

“A man posing to be an intelligence officer came to our shop and went through ledgers and other documents. When he found everything was in order, he demanded bribe. When we informed our lawyer, the ‘officer’ fled, he said.

However, there are a few unlucky traders who succumbed to these ‘officers’ and paid up bribe between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000.

The Karnataka Tax Consultants Association has also appealed to Commissioner of Taxes Harish Gowda to issue a notice informing all traders not to entertain any officer without his official ID card and also direct officers to display their ID cards during inspection.