Tax experts at national audit, tax and advisory firm Crowe Clark Whitehill are warning taxpayers to ignore emails purporting to be from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that promise rebates.
Tax Director Paul Edwards said: “HMRC never contacts people via email regarding rebates and would certainly never request vital personal information such as credit card details over the internet.”
Last year, according to HMRC, taxpayers reported almost 80,000 tax rebate ‘phishing’ emails, many of which included links to a ‘clone’ version of HMRC’s website.
Paul Edwards said: “In return for personal, credit card or banking details, the emails appear to offer a tax refund, but anyone responding would risk exposing themselves to fraud and could have their details sold on to organised criminal gangs.”
Last year HMRC closed 522 illegal internet sites, many based in countries as far flung as the USA, Russia, Japan and central and Eastern Europe.
Paul Edwards said: “HMRC only ever contacts taxpayers in writing, by post, the old fashioned way. It never sends out emails about tax refunds.
“If you receive an email claiming to be from HMRC offering a tax rebate, you can forward it to [email protected] and you should then delete it permanently.”
A spokesman for HMRC added: “HMRC does everything it can to ensure customers are safe online and we are working closely with other law enforcement agencies to target the criminals behind this serious crime.”