Fake HMRC text message being circulated

epm-84

There's a fake text message going around saying to go to hm-revenue-customs.com to claim your tax refund. That domain does not belong to HMRC so if you get the message just delete it.

worried_jim

Been around for years.

hollie.weimeraner

The frightening thing is I submitted my wifes tax return on Saturday and on Monday she had an email informing her of a £344 refund.

00ec25

epm-84 wrote: »

There's a fake text message going around saying to go yo hm-revenue-customs.com to claim your tax refund. That domain does not belong to HMRC so if you get the message just delete it.

hardly news!

if in doubt always look at the "phishing" page on the organisation's website, here's HMRC's info for example:

https://www.gov.uk/topic/dealing-with-hmrc/phishing-scams

EdSwippet

00ec25 wrote: »

hardly news!

But rather depressing that the phishing site's domain name still hasn't been shut down or rerouted. This would be an obvious first step towards reducing the problem.

epm-84

EdSwippet wrote: »

But rather depressing that the phishing site's domain name still hasn't been shut down or rerouted. This would be an obvious first step towards reducing the problem.

The domain hm-Revenue-Customs.com was only registered yesterday, so this is either a different scam to the one 'worried jim' is thinking of or the same scammers have registered a new domain.

I'm aware of a phising email which looks like an official HMRC email where the link is made to look like it goes to the HMRC site - but it actually goes to another site, like the https://www.bbc.co.uk link going to https://www.itv.com that Martin Lewis has included in his weekly email numerous times, which has been going around for years.

agrinnall

Nobody is going to get a text from HMRC inviting them to apply for a tax refund anyway so the simple response is always to delete and forget, and certainly not to waste time posting about it online!

Misslayed

agrinnall wrote: »

Nobody is going to get a text from HMRC inviting them to apply for a tax refund anyway so the simple response is always to delete and forget, and certainly not to waste time posting about it online!

Not a waste of time if it alerts just one 'not quite so savvy' person to the scam.

epm-84

agrinnall wrote: »

Nobody is going to get a text from HMRC inviting them to apply for a tax refund anyway so the simple response is always to delete and forget, and certainly not to waste time posting about it online!

People who have lost their jobs do get text messages from DWP relating to their benefit payments, so how many on benefits who are entitled to a tax refund, would think it's genuine? People obviously do fall for scams so those people need to be warned about the scams.

I have warned others and also reported the abuse of the domain to the company it's registered with, which isn't a waste of time. Hopefully by tomorrow the domain company will have cancelled the domain. It's a bit rich saying I've wasted time posting about it online when you've taken the time to write a post which has absolutely no constructive content in it. Are you just very bored or something?

Jackmydad

Forward anything suspicious on to HMRC at
phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

(Linked from the page link above)

agrinnall

As I've posted many times in response to similar threads, if everybody started a thread about every scam/spam message received then this forum would be overwhelmed by such threads. We've all been receiving these things for many years, and anyone who hasn't learned by now to delete/ignore probably isn't ever going to learn.