Don't get caught out by this tax credit scam
Taxman warns fraudsters are using the tax-credit renewal deadline as an opportunity to steal your personal details.
Tax credit claimants have been warned by HM Revenue & Customs about scam ‘phishing’ emails which will steal their personal details in the run-up to the renewal deadline on 31st July.
Last year, nearly 25,000 scam emails were reported to HMRC during the tax credits renewal period, which runs from April to July.
May this year saw a 131% increase in reports of phishing emails, with 11,219 recorded. While HMRC worked alongside other agencies to shut down 611 scam sites during last year’s renewal period, new sites pop up at an alarming rate.
1,740 illegal sites were closed down in 2013, most originating in Turkey, Spain and Bulgaria, but some phishing emails also came from the UK and USA.
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What is phishing?
Phishing emails will attempt to dupe you into providing personal information such as passwords, your credit or debit card details, or your National Insurance (NI) number.
They will attempt to gain your trust by pretending to be someone 'reputable' like HMRC. But the taxman will never ask for your bank account details, or other personal information like your address, NI number or date of birth via email.
An email might seem to be from HMRC, with the extension @hmrc.gov.uk, but if you click a link in the email you’ll be taken to a replica of the HMRC website which will try to maliciously extort your details. Similar emails may also contain viruses. Do not respond to phishing emails, and never open their attachments.
Read Eight ways to spot a phishing scam to know the tell-tale signs of a phishing scam.
If you think you have received an HMRC related phishing/bogus email, forward it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it.
Be careful with your details
Nick Lodge, Director General of Benefits and Credits, HMRC, said that HMRC is committed to protecting claimants’ details and making their experience of using HMRC online services safe, but that users must remain vigilant, because the “methods fraudsters use to get information are constantly changing.”
HMRC is making people aware of a specific email circulated from taxreturn[at]hmrc.gov.uk, which purports to inform people about a 2013 tax refund report. Do not open this email or its attachment. The attachment contains a virus. Recipients are urged not to respond but to delete it immediately.
For more advice on online security, read HMRC’s security advice and its page on recognising and reporting phishing/bogus emails.
Tax credit claimants are able to renew their claim by post and by phone, and those with no changes to report may be able to renew online using the official gov.uk website.
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Comments
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@ Nosbort If you check the source code of anything suspicious and do not download from links or click on anything which is not checked out you are 100% safe, especially if you do regular sweeps of your system. I've been online since 1994 and only had one virus issue and that was from a malicious web site before I had got to grips with blocking that kind of 'drive by' threat. If people weren't so stupid and lazy then Phishers would not find it worthwhile continuing. I also report all threats back to appropriate authorities and warn anyone I find whose web site has been hacked. I've spoken directly with hosting companies around the world and been able to help stop hundreds of threats. Hubris my rear.
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@electricblue - 100% safe, that sounds like hubris to me. I know what I'm doing and would never consider myself 100% safe, the scammers are damned ingenious! Add to this that HMRC seem to be training us to ignore their (and all others' ) sound advice about links in emails which are not what they appear to be an you have the recipe for phishers to succeed. The latest HMRC buletin to employers contains links that are deliberately obfuscated and lead to a different domain. That's just plain stupid!
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I too have had many of these emails, but even more worrying is that I have had man stating that my court case is now due. Each one says that a different case is to be heard but it is alarming to receive these just out of the blue. Beware...do not open The courts would never send details in an email.
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23 June 2014