MSE News: Beware fake HMRC tax refund emails
Comments
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Dear tax payers,
As you may know, we have been printing money in the BOE in a clever manoeuvre we call Quantitative Easing. We intend to flood the economy with lots of money, so everyone has plenty to spend, thus getting the economy running again.
Unfortunately, our usual channels of bankers and other collaborators, stooges and snitches are not passing the money on to the general public, but keeping it in their own pockets, which is frustrating our efforts to revive the economy. We have therefore decided to distribute the funds directly to the general public.
To prove that you are not a foreign visitor who have not contributed to our grande nation, please provide as much information as you can, to facilitate our vetting process. We will need to debit a small sum from your bank account to make sure the account exists, so the money only goes to genuine UK accounts, so be sure to fill out the Direct Debit instruction at:
www.honestgov.co.uk/QE_R_Us
It is your patriotic duty to help us spend our way out of this recession. There are butchers, car mechanics, plumbers and many others who are desperate for the work you will generate with this money. so do not hesitate, and fill in the form ASAP.
Governor, Banc of Ingland0 -
I have been receiving this emails for over a year and throughout the whole year not just now.Wins so far this year: Mum to be bath set, follow me Domino Dog, Vital baby feeding set, Spiderman goody bag, free pack of Kiplings cakes, £15 love to shop voucher, HTC Desire, Olive oil cooking spray, Original Source Strawberry Shower Gel, Garnier skin care hamper, Marc Jacobs fragrance.0
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The use of the term fiscal activity in the phishing e-mail is a big giveaway. Definitely not HMRC language.Are you for real? - Glass Half Empty??
:coffee:0 -
I had a phone call last week telling me that I was due a tax refund that I needed to claim. I had to press a number if I was interested and another number if I did not want to get anymore calls from them. I just chose to put the phone down. I have heard of scams where they tell you to press a number on keypad which then, somehow, scams you.Keep on trucking!0
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I had one today on their busiest day of the year (probably!) Somehow my email knew it was a fake and stuck it in trash.
HMRC state that they NEVER contact people about refunds by email. Just visit their scams page:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/examples.htm
Letters ending "best regards" are also a bit of a giveaway! :rotfl:0 -
But only a click away from that page (click on Genuine HMRC Contacts on that link), HMRC say they are currently sending out emails about ... you guessed it... refunds!HMRC state that they NEVER contact people about refunds by email. Just visit their scams page:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/examples.htm
From http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/contacts.htm
and further down the page...HMRC appreciate that you need to be able to confirm that any electronic contact you receive from them is genuine and to help you do this a list is provided below of the emails and texts (Secure Message Service (SMS)) that HMRC sends out.
I think they actually say they'll never give out details about tax rebates by email rather than tax refunds, but I must admit that I don't know what the difference between the two is; they seem awfully similar to me as a non-tax expert.Current messages
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EU VAT refund claim
HMRC will contact customers which have submitted an EU VAT refund claim that has failed the member state validation checks. HMRC will provide details on how to correct the claim in order to successfully re-submit it.
HMRC will contact customers who have used HMRC Online Services to register a company for VAT purposes. HMRC will be providing information on how to create a new Government Gateway account in order to file VAT returns and change registration details online.
Well indeed!Letters ending "best regards" are also a bit of a giveaway! :rotfl:
But I don't think you can rely on scammers always making this sort of mistake.
I don't think HMRC are consistent on this; it looks like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, which is no help to us as taxpayers.0 -
Jivesinger wrote: »I don't think HMRC are consistent on this; it looks like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, which is no help to us as taxpayers.
Sometimes it is. Last year I had a fine of £100 refunded after I proved that info sent to me following an enquiry was totally wrong.
However, in 2010, the local office managed to lose my return and that was no fun!0 -
I've had a letter from HMRC this morning saying Potential refund of National Insurance contributions. We have received your amended P14 and believe that the employee shown below (can't see any employee with that name from that period in the company payroll records) may be entitled to a refund for the tax years 2011/2012.
The HMRC address is:
Customer Operations
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
CEPT Team, BP1001 - this doesn't match the address online
Benton Park View
Longbenton
Newcastle upon tyne
NE98 1ZZ
The telephone number is 0191 225 3498 - again doesn't match any phone number on their website and I always thought you have to ring the 0845 numbers for HMRC.
At the bottom of the second page is Russell Jackson, Temporary Deputy Director, NIC&EO?
Just seems a little strange. Can anyone tell me if this is an actual HMRC letter?Make extra money January 2013: £4.40 / £30
Free bingo winnings 2013: £0 / Pay ALL debt in 2013 member 044: £854.44 / £3770 :j Lose 22lbs in 5 months: 0 / 22 :j0 -
I've had a letter from HMRC this morning saying Potential refund of National Insurance contributions. We have received your amended P14 and believe that the employee shown below (can't see any employee with that name from that period in the company payroll records) may be entitled to a refund for the tax years 2011/2012.
The HMRC address is:
Customer Operations
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
CEPT Team, BP1001 - this doesn't match the address online
Benton Park View
Longbenton
Newcastle upon tyne
NE98 1ZZ
The telephone number is 0191 225 3498 - again doesn't match any phone number on their website and I always thought you have to ring the 0845 numbers for HMRC.
At the bottom of the second page is Russell Jackson, Temporary Deputy Director, NIC&EO?
Just seems a little strange. Can anyone tell me if this is an actual HMRC letter?
Inputting that telephone number into Google brings up this as the second item, so it would appear that (the phone number at least) is genuine. But it is a Fax number.
http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/contactus/view.page?record=yg7jCcYewik
It doesn't take much to do that yourself."There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock0 -
poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »Inputting that telephone number into Google brings up this as the second item, so it would appear that (the phone number at least) is genuine. But it is a Fax number.
http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/contactus/view.page?record=yg7jCcYewik
It doesn't take much to do that yourself.
As you can see in my post it says doesn't match up to any number on the website. I typed the number into google before posting on here and HMRC did not come up in the google list. On the HMRC website you are right -
0191 225 6677 is a fax number. However I was looking for the number 0191 225 3498. Can you find this one? Because neither can I.
Wrong side of bed or just having a bad day?Make extra money January 2013: £4.40 / £30
Free bingo winnings 2013: £0 / Pay ALL debt in 2013 member 044: £854.44 / £3770 :j Lose 22lbs in 5 months: 0 / 22 :j0
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