Technical Briefings

17 November 2009

Tax scams

Online fraudsters have expanded their range of scams over the last few years, and are now sending increasing numbers of emails purporting to advise recipients that they are, for example, due a tax refund.

The scam then asks the recipient to log in to a fake website and enter various personal details, such as name, bank account data, date of birth and so on. The information handed over will, unsurprisingly, result in identity theft.

This sort of scam is known as "phishing" and is becoming an increasing problem.

The emails from the scammers generally look quite convincing, and include HMRC's logo. However, there are frequently tell-tale signs that the email is not genuine – such as the email address being ".co.uk" rather than ".gov.uk", and the grammar is frequently poor.

HM Revenue & Customs do not send emails to taxpayers advising them of refunds, so any email purporting to do so should be treated with a healthy dose of scepticism.

Examples of the sorts of scams in circulation are shown on HMRC's website (www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/examples.htm). This is updated as new scams are identified, and so it is worth checking this from time to time.

As always, it is worth remembering the old adage that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.