News

Phishing

16 - 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:

 

1. Check the advice published at www.hmrc.gov.uk/security to see if the email you have received is listed;
2. Forward suspicious emails to HMRC at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it from your computer/mail account;
3. Do not click on websites, links contained in suspicious emails or open attachments; and
4. 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.