HMRC update on phishing and scam emails

HMRC recently saw a spike in students reporting suspected scams sent to their official university email addresses offering fake tax refunds.

HMRC’s Customer Protection Team has had web pages associated with the scam taken down and has alerted universities and the National Union of Students. HMRC has also detected 112 COVID-related financial scams since March, most by text message, and taken down more than 126 web pages associated with these scam campaigns.

This has prompted HMRC to issue a warning about giving away any personal information or money, and not to download attachments or click on links in unexpected texts or emails.

HMRC keep an up to date guide on containing all of the email, letter, phone call and SMS text messages that HMRC has recently issued to customers so this can be checked to ensure contact is valid. They also advise on how to identify fraudulent emails (for example incorrect “from” addresses and what they do and don’t ask you for in contact. Any suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC can be forwarded to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.