Criminals exploit Self Assessment Deadline

Taxpayers should not respond to any email promising a tax repayment HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned.
 
Fraudsters are sending out thousands of such phishing emails in the run up to the 31 January tax deadline.
 
The email tells the recipient they are due a tax refund and directs them to an online form to provide bank or credit card details for the rebate to be paid into. Anyone providing their details would have their accounts emptied and credit cards used to their limit. The victim also risks having their personal details sold on to other organised criminal gangs.
 
HMRC also warned of a massive upsurge in the phishing emails immediately following the 31 January deadline when many people will be waiting to hear about genuine tax refunds.
 
HMRC said “We only ever contact customers who are due a refund in writing by post. We never use emails, telephone calls or external companies in these circumstances. We strongly urge anyone receiving such an email to send it to us for investigation before deleting it.”
 
HMRC thoroughly investigates these attacks and works with other law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas. In the last year, scam networks have been shut down in a number of countries, specifically Austria, Mexico, the UK, Korea, the USA, Thailand and Japan.
 
HMRC strongly advises customers to:
Check the advice published at www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/index.htm to see if the email you have received is listed Forward suspicious emails to HMRC at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and then delete it from your computer/mail account Do not click on websites, links contained in suspicious emails or open attachments Follow advice from www.getsafeonline.co.uk If you have reason to believe that you have been the victim of an email scam, report the matter to your bank/card issuer as soon as possible. If in doubt please check with HMRC at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm