HMRC Phishing Scams – Beware!

I just got really excited when I saw an email in my inbox from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announcing “Auotmated Tax Refund Notification”. Great!! It’s MY turn to get some tax money back!

Here’s what the email said:

Unclaimed Tax Refund Notification

You are Receiving this Notification Because you are yet to claim your tax refund which has accrued up to 279.41 GBP,
This is the last and Final notice we will be sending regarding this issue. you are advised to respond Swiftly to this mail
so as to facilitate the process within 72hours of receiving the information Submitted.

On files dated 04/01/2013, The following Banks are processed within 48hrs of receiving your information due to the system link up.

Co-operative Bank Plc

Lloyds TSB Bank Plc

Nationwide Building Society

NatWest Bank

Santander Bank

other banks are required to allow up 72hrs.

You are require to Submit the tax refund request using the reference below

Refund Now

Please Note : If the Account provide is incorrect or inactive your refund would be forfeited and also

For Security reason we will record ( IP Address, Time and Date ) Deliberate wrong input will be criminally pursued
Yours Sincerely
HM Revenue & Customs

hmrc-phishing-scam

Now, apart from the fact that I know for sure I am not owed any tax back, there are a number of clues here that anyone receiving this type of email should be very wary about.

The first very important point to bear in mind when receiving an email like this is – HMRC will NEVER voluntarily contact you giving you these glad tidings! It’s hard enough getting tax refunds out of them the normal way!

Now, check out the really bad grammar – HMRC may be extremely annoying to deal with but by and large, they can write a good letter when they have to.

The email address it’s sent from is NOT a proper hmrc.gov.uk one – why would HMRC use anything other than their own?

Just be very aware that these phishing scams come around a few times a year. If you are ever in any doubt, just give us a call or ask via any of our social media sites. Don’t get caught out!!