Is this HMRC tax refund email a scam?

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

I've just received an email regarding a large tax refund from HM Revenue & Customs – or at least I think it was them. It says I'm due a tax refund of over £900 and is from the web address refund.alert.hm@hmrc.gov.uk, not some dodgy address like refunds@yahoo.com.

Income Tax return

Taxing temptation: HMRC will only contact you by post, so do not enter your details into a website.

It invites me to click through an invited link, there's the HMRC website and it asks me to choose my bank from a list of logos before entering my bank details in order to receive a refund.

I know I should never enter my bank details into a website, but this looks really genuine. A. S. Shaw, Surrey.

Alan O'Sullivan, This is Money reporter, says: Whatever you do, do not enter any personal details into the site. I received one of these as well recently and was surprised at how official it looked.

It was an exact copy of the HMRC website, but, let there be no doubt about it, this is a scam aimed at cleaning your bank account – otherwise known as a 'phishing scam'.

It may be tempting at first to investigate further if there are large sums involved, but remember HMRC, your bank or any other genuine financial company will never email you requesting personal information. This is always done via traditional 'snail mail' - post.

If you do come across an email like this, forward it on to HMRC at phish@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it.

These fake emails are usually sent out in the run-up to the end of the online self-assessment deadline of January 31, when people are studying their tax affairs and are more likely to be interested in cutting down on their overall bill. But they can also be sent out at any time of the year.

A spokeswoman for HMRC said: 'We only contact customers who are due a refund in writing by post. We never use emails, telephone calls or external companies in these circumstances.

'HMRC is taking action to disrupt these attacks and through co-operation with other law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas a number of scam networks have been shut down.'

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