Phishing16 - 02 - 2011
Warning. Phishing is Dangerous. HM Revenue and Customs have issued a warning regarding "phishing" emails being sent by fraudsters following the 31 January 2011 self assessment deadline.
The "phishing" email informs the recipient they are due a tax rebate, and provides a click-through link to a replica of the HMRC website. The recipient is asked to provide their credit card details. Fraudsters then try to take money from the account using the details provided. Victims risk having their bank accounts emptied and their personal details sold on to other organised criminal gangs.
Chris Hopson, Director of
Customer Contact at HMRC, said:
“As a matter of policy, HMRC
will only ever contact customers who are due a tax refund in writing by post.
If anyone receives an email offering a tax rebate claiming to be from HMRC, we
recommend they send it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
before deleting it permanently.”
The scam email often begins with
a sentence such as “We have reviewed your tax return and our calculations of
your last year’s accounts show a tax refund of XXXX is due.”
HMRC strongly advises customers
to:
- Check the advice published at www.hmrc.gov.uk/security to
see if the email you have received is listed;
- Forward suspicious emails to HMRC at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and
then delete it from your computer/mail account;
- Do not click on websites, links contained in
suspicious emails or open attachments; and
- Follow advice from www.getsafeonline.co.uk.
If you have reason to believe
that you have been the victim of an email scam, report the matter to your
bank/card issuer as soon as possible. If in doubt, please check with HMRC at www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm.