Watch out for this Tax Refund Scam

sheslookinhot · 30 April 2009 at 7:57PM

Received an e-mail today.

"Notification -Tax Refund"

!x-usc:cid:002501c9c9a9$97015df8$d24efea9@imbpilot-20t7sd

"After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of J552.24
Please visit the link to proceed: [URL="mhtml:{1576208F-BF98-4A54-BD64-9E137FFEE289}mid://00000173/!x-usc:http://www9.hmrc.gov.uk.0841296exec.96appsconfig.com/refunds/form?frame=19xzbacyyDyzrdhrdOrdn"]http://ww1.hmrc.gov.uk/refunds/form?diag=19xzbacyyDyzrdhrdOrdn[/URL]
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
We apologize for the any inconveniences caused, and is very thankful for your cooperation.

Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

Sincerely,
Wilbur Ricenberg
Tax Refund Department

Copyright © 2009 HM Revenue and Customs All rights reserved"

Some of the grammar is not befitting of our Civil Servants, so obviously a scam, so watch out

a_sav · 30 April 2009 at 8:14PM

Thanks for reminding me, yes I too got one similar from a differnet Tax Official and deleted it

jet9cat · 30 April 2009 at 9:30PM

Hi everyone

I work at HMRC in a public enquiry centre. We are aware of these scams and our website (sorry it wouldn't let me post link) does have section on known phishing and scams so if in doubt you an always check there. As a general rule though we do not email regarding the possibility of refunds. We only end out emils in reply to emailed quetions through the website links or reminders where people have specially signed up to things likeour online filing services.
Please note that you can always (for free!) talk to your tax office about your tax affairs if you think you may be due a refund and many large towns do still have a local tax enquiry centre which can give advice even if they are not "your" tax ofice.

Hope this help people not get stung by scams.

Stompa · 30 April 2009 at 9:34PM

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/spoofs.htm

Enfieldian · 30 April 2009 at 10:02PM

This is the one that asks for your card number, security number AND PIN number in order for them to pay the refund directly?

If that was not effing obvious enough, the generic salutaion (Dear Valued Tax Payer?) and Nigerianisms like "fiscal activity" should be enough.

With scams this bleeding obvious some people do actually deserve to get taken. There should be a common sense test before you are allowed to use the internet unsupervised.

(If there was, I would fail.......)

Mikeyorks · 30 April 2009 at 10:49PM

Yes - Wilbur Ricenberg - doesn't instinctively strike you as a good old HMRC official.

More specific detail here :-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm

jem16 · 1 May 2009 at 7:42AM

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Yes - Wilbur Ricenberg - doesn't instinctively strike you as a good old HMRC official.

neither does the typical American spelling of organise. (organize)

Watch out for this Tax Refund Scam

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