HMRC have over the last month begun to send out tax calculations to those who receive income through PAYE and have overpaid or underpaid tax. With this has come the yearly influx of phishing scams.
This is where emails that pretend to be from HMRC are actually from fraudsters in order to either access recipients’ personal details (e.g. usernames, passwords and bank details) or infect the computer or smartphone with a virus.
This can also take the form of phone scams, with callers either purporting to be from HMRC, your bank and even the police in relation to enforcement action.
Regularly updated information can be found on gov.uk with regards to what contact HMRC themselves or research agencies they are working with have issued, along with guidance on how to tell if an email is fraudulent. You can also report HMRC related phishing or bogus emails to HMRC on there.
As always the best advice is to take a common sense approach and not respond or engage with any communication if you are unsure of its validity without verifying it first. HMRC are consistent with their message that they do not send notifications of tax rebates by email nor do they ask recipients to disclose personal or payment information by email.