HMRC scam emails 'on the up'

Date: 16th October 2009

More and more emails are being sent by fraudsters posing as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and offering a chance to save tax, new data from the tax authority suggests.

The report shows that notice of 83,000 of these fraudulent emails were received during the month, including a record total of 10,000 in a single day.

Commonly, the messages are structured around an offer for the recipient to get hold of a "tax refund" via filling out an online form - in which they are asked to fill in their credit card details.

However, in reality the email is not from HMRC, the refund does not exist and the fraudster uses the credit card number of those who sent the form back to steal money.

Scams where criminals pose as a third party to trick victims out of their card numbers are known as "phishing".

John Harrison, head of HMRC customer contact online, 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.

"I would strongly encourage anyone receiving such an email not to open it."

CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention authority, tracked a 16 per cent rise in overall fraud for 2008.