SCAM - Tax refund emails - SCAM

Friday, October 2, 2009

Dear all

This one is somewhat urgent and we truly would not bother you if we didnt feel it was very important.

We ourselves today received an email regarding a tax refund from what "claims to be" the HMRC office, stating that a tax refund is due for a certain amount of money, and ask's us to fill in the attached "pdf" file, print and return it to the tax office stating that the tax refund will be processed within 8 to 9 days.

This email is a FRAUD!

DO NOT FILL THIS IN AND NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR MASTERCARD/VISA SECURECODE TO ANYBODY, EVER!

The attachment is NOT a .pdf, its actually an html file too, and clicking on the "print" button will then also submit all of your personal information and credit card details back to the scammers directly over the internet, unsecured!

The email claims to come from an email address of "tax.individuals@hmrc.individuals.co.uk" which is just a sub domain of "individuals.co.uk" and the images found within the file all come from scam throw-away domains/websites.

If you truly are due a tax refund then HMRC will post it to you, they will NEVER ask for your card details and personal information. If you are truly unsure, speak to your accountant and/or your local tax office to confirm and you will find that this is a scam.

If your still unsure and have any questions then please do get in touch with your local tax office for confirmation of what we are advising.

See the official HMRC website on this information: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/examples.htm