Tax phishing email numbers soar

Fraudsters try to hook victims with tax rebate promise

The taxman is warning of a sharp rise in phishing emails aimed at stealing financial details in return for the promise of a tax rebate.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has put out a statement advising that the number of tax-related phishing emails being sent has soared following the 31 January deadline for filing self-assessment tax returns.

The emails tell the recipient they are due a tax rebate and provide a link to a fake HMRC website that asks for credit card details.

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."

HM Revenue & Customs is warning of a significant rise in the number of scam emails
Image: HMRC

Anyone entering their details risks having money stolen from their bank account and their financial and personal details sold on to other criminals, HMRC said.

In a statement, Chris Hopson, director of customer contact at HMRC, said HMRC will only ever contact customers who are due a tax refund in writing by post.

HMRC advice is that anyone receiving an email offering a tax rebate claiming to be from HMRC should send it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before deleting it.

In the past three months, the HMRC has shut down 99 websites responsible for sending out fake tax rebate emails.

HMRC investigates phishing attacks and works with other law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas. Over the past 18 months, scam networks have been shut down in a number of countries, including Austria, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, the UK and the US.