We’re seeing multiple copies of the below spam dropping into mailboxes at the moment, all of which claim to be an automated tax refund of £796.86 for UK tax payers.
The email reads as follows:
Automated Tax Refund Notification After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity , we determined that you are aligible to receive a tax refund of 796.86 £ . Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 10-14 days in order to process it. To access your tax refund, please follow the steps bellow: - Download the Tax Refund attached to this email - Open it in a browser - Follow the instructions on your screen NOTE: A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons , for exemple submitting invalid records or applying after deadline. Revenue and Tax Administrator
The emails come with a HTML attachment:
The attachment opens up a phishing page which asks for the usual personal information, including name, email, DOB, city, phone number, full card details and sort code / account number.
Hitting the submit button sends the data to the scammers.
The official HMRC site has a number of pages [1], [2], [3], on tax themed scams and how you can spot them. Forewarned is forearmed, and nobody wants to lose a small fortune to tax-scam phishers – if in doubt, give those advice links a read and be careful where you send your data.
Christopher Boyd
Might be worth putting on this post that HMRC will NEVER ask for card/bank details for a refund. They will send a cheque (all be it a printed one) in the post to your registered address.
These emails have been going around a while and I’ve had a few myself (on Hotmail, Gmail and even Work ones). Every time they come from an email address not quite right. HMRC don’t email often but the when they do it will be whilst they are talking to you on the phone. If in doubt delete the email and don’t worry HMRC will always write to you if they don’t hear form you (assuming it was a legit email) or if you do want to find out more about the contents then call them on a number you can find from their website not from any links in the email.
My Motto on these emails:
If you are not sure DELETE it and someone will call or write if it is important.
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