Tax return scam 'to rise before paper deadline'

Date: 19th October 2009

A dangerous US fraud email related to self-assessment tax returns is likely to have spread to the UK, a tech expert has suggested.

Webroot threat analyst Andrew Brandt wrote on his blog that con artists have been posing as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to infect their victims' computers with malware.

Commonly, these messages are structured by warning the recipient that they have been underpaying their taxes.

When the victim clicks on a link, their computer is infected by viruses - allowing the fraudster to steal personal data.

Mr Brandt forecast that, with the paper deadline for self-assessment tax returns in the UK of October 31st approaching, instances of this kind of email would increase.

He also predicted a further spike prior to the online deadline of January 31st.

The only difference likely between the UK and US emails is that the fraudsters will pose as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), rather than the IRS.

"We classify the files as Trojan-Backdoor-Progdav (other vendors call this spy Zbot), a general-purpose smash-and-grab Trojan designed to give the malware's distributor total control over the infected machine, mainly for the purpose of aiding identity theft," Mr Brandt added.

Last week, HMRC said that over 80,000 instances of another tax fraud email - through which con artists posing as the tax authority told their victims that they were in line for a tax refund - had been reported over September.