MSE News: Beware fake HMRC tax refund emails

[MSE Jamie]

"We've been informed of a spate of fake emails, known as phishing emails, claiming to be from HMRC, promising £245 ..."

Read the full story:

Beware fake HMRC tax refund emails

[antonic]

If you get an email from HMRC its fake, as staff arent permitted to communicate to external people for data security reasons, because email isnt a secure method of communication.

[mattytun]

You should ALWAYS have a separate email if you do banking and all things money online......

[mattytun]

This may be useful.
http://www.tvkim.com/watch/2555/kim-...-screen-shot-b

[travellingbum]

"£244.79"

How much is that in nairas?

[xXMessedUpXx]

I had one from "HRMC" a few months ago, said i was due a tax refund, but figured a)i didnt think they'd contact me by email and b)they don't usually do refunds till april? Deleted it anyway

[Jivesinger]

Hmm. I actually don't believe the "HMRC never send emails" claim, as I have a few and I'm sure they're from HMRC.

I am registered for Self Assessment, and one of the details they collect is my email address; if they never send emails, why would they do this?!

Some of the emails I've received were sent just after I notified them of a change of address; and the emails were along the lines of "Thank you for notifying us of your change of address", so I'm pretty certain they're genuine.

The other emails were encouraging me to pay my tax return by Direct Debit, and I've looked carefully and all the links are genuine (and come with warnings not to actually follow the links without logging in separately first). None of the emails had personal details except some had a tortuous reference number that could probably used to track back in case of a query.

So it may be that HMRC don't tell people about tax refunds by email, but that's different from a blanket statement that they never send emails, which I'm sure is incorrect.

[Jivesinger]

Just found some confirmation that HMRC do send emails, on the HMRC website:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/contacts.htm

Self Assessment Online email alert

Each year HMRC sends emails reminding customers to file their Self Assessment returns. These emails never ask you to provide personal or financial information. The latest batch of emails will be sent from 10 December 2012 and include information relating to the Self Assessment Service.

This quote on the MSE story is misleading in isolation as I'm pretty sure it's only correct in the context of emails about tax refunds. It's not correct when applied to any email from HMRC.

"Anyone who receives an email claiming to be from HMRC should send it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before deleting it permanently."

[Midnighter]

Oops. I received one and deleted it before seeing that.

[oldhand]

£245? has to be a scam,now the genuine one I received from my new friend in nigeria whose name im not allowed to divulge but I can tell you involves the transfer to my bank account of £2.5 million THATS genuine.

[gb12345]

Originally Posted by oldhand

£245? has to be a scam,now the genuine one I received from my new friend in nigeria whose name im not allowed to divulge but I can tell you involves the transfer to my bank account of £2.5 million THATS genuine.

Sorry to tell you this, but you are obviously being scammed. No one needs help transferring an amount that small. Anyway, must go, have to do a Western Union payment for the processing fee for my $90,000,000 unsecured loan from TOTALLY HONEST LENDERS INC LTD PLC. Not quite sure why they want me to send it to a man in India though.

[Pincher]

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 Ingland

[emweaver]

I have been receiving this emails for over a year and throughout the whole year not just now.

[Fruit and Nut Case]

The use of the term fiscal activity in the phishing e-mail is a big giveaway. Definitely not HMRC language.

[Cacran]

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.

[Davesnave]

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!

[Jivesinger]

Originally Posted by Davesnave

HMRC state that they NEVER contact people about refunds by email. Just visit their scams page:

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

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!

From http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/contacts.htm

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.

and further down the page...

Current messages
......

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Davesnave

Letters ending "best regards" are also a bit of a giveaway!

Well indeed! 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.

[Davesnave]

Originally Posted by Jivesinger

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!

[Fluffpuff]

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?

[poppasmurf_bewdley]

Originally Posted by Fluffpuff

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/...rd=yg7jCcYewik

It doesn't take much to do that yourself.