Believe it or not, it’s easy to be misled by fraudsters claiming to be HMRC. Common ways to be approached are emails and telephone calls. HMRC revealed earlier this year that they received more than 60,000 reports of scam calls in the six months leading up to January 2019.
One particularly alarming scam sees fraudsters ring and tell victims that they will be arrested for tax fraud, unless they instantly hand over payment details and pay a fee – This fee can range from anything up to £4000! The fraudsters will say things like “there is a warrant for your arrest”, “you will be done for fraud”. Victims are then pressured into giving their card details, which enable the scammers to take money from their account. Fraudsters can also clone HMRC’s number. This happened to a client of ours earlier this year, luckily, they called us first so we checked, they didn’t owe any money! there’s warrant for ur arrest,” “you’re being done for fraud!” so “we need money today!” there’s warrant for ur arrest,” “you’re being done for fraud!” so “we need money today!” there’s warrant for ur arrest,” “you’re being done for fraud!” so “we need money today!”
Fraudsters use many different tactics to extort money from innocent people. Another scam which is quite popular, mainly during tax return seasons, fraudsters email victims pretending they have a tax refund that needs to be claimed. The email will contain boxes that you will need to fill out with your personal information and bank details for you to ‘claim your refund’.
Do not:
- visit the website
- open any attachments
- disclose any personal or payment information
Fraudsters may spoof a genuine email address or change the ‘display name’ to make it appear genuine. If you are unsure, forward it to us and then delete it.
To see more examples of HMRC scams please visit -https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phishing-and-bogus-emails-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples/phishing-emails-and-bogus-contact-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples
HMRC will never email you demanding payment or ask for any personal information. If you do receive any calls claiming to be HMRC asking for money, always check with us first before you do pay any money, no matter how convincing they are.
If you do experience any suspicious emails please forward them to HMRC’s phishing team on phishing@hmrc.gov.uk
Forward suspicious text messages to 60599. Text messages will be charged at your network rate.
If you receive a suspicious phone calls, please email the details of the call to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk
- date of the call
- phone number used
- content of the call
To see more information on this please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-fraudulent-emails
Please remember we are always here to help, if you receive any suspicious calls, emails or texts then check with us first before you pay any money!
