Government Gateway Application for tax account submitted against my email- not by me

tkcarter

Hello, This is my first post, I have just joined the site this morning as I need advice if anyone can help.

I received 2 emails from Government Gateway, 10 minutes apart, with codes to confirm my email address.  I didn't request them but it was too late to contact HMRC.  Email password changed immediately.

Overnight I received another email from HMRC, saying 'an application to register for HMRC taxes has been received and will be processed', with an application reference number.

The only phone number I found for HMRC was technical support who told me that the emails are genuine from them, but due to confidentiality I can't be told anything else about it as I didn't submit the request. I was also told that I would not be informed the outcome of any investigation because of confidentiality and they didn't even generate a reference number to log my call.

I've also spoken to Action Fraud and followed their advice with credit reports and joining cifas. But they were surprised I was told that I wouldn't be kept informed and that HMRC hadn't given a reference number.

 

I've checked my government gateway account and it hasn't had any recent activity so it is a separate account that is being requested. I feel I need to be prepared for any implications from someone using my email address. But I'm feeling really vulnerable at the moment as I don't understand it.

Thank you in advance for reading my post and any advice anyone can give to me.

NedS

tkcarter said:

Hello, This is my first post, I have just joined the site this morning as I need advice if anyone can help.

I received 2 emails from Government Gateway, 10 minutes apart, with codes to confirm my email address.  I didn't request them but it was too late to contact HMRC.  Email password changed immediately.

Overnight I received another email from HMRC, saying 'an application to register for HMRC taxes has been received and will be processed', with an application reference number.

The only phone number I found for HMRC was technical support who told me that the emails are genuine from them, but due to confidentiality I can't be told anything else about it as I didn't submit the request. I was also told that I would not be informed the outcome of any investigation because of confidentiality and they didn't even generate a reference number to log my call.

I've also spoken to Action Fraud and followed their advice with credit reports and joining cifas. But they were surprised I was told that I wouldn't be kept informed and that HMRC hadn't given a reference number.

 

I've checked my government gateway account and it hasn't had any recent activity so it is a separate account that is being requested. I feel I need to be prepared for any implications from someone using my email address. But I'm feeling really vulnerable at the moment as I don't understand it.

Thank you in advance for reading my post and any advice anyone can give to me.

If you did not take the required action to confirm your email address, presumably HMRC should take no action related to the unconfirmed change. It could simply have been an innocent mistake whereby someone has made a typo and mistakenly entered your email address instead of their own. The fact you received two confirmation emails would support this - the person obviously didn't receive the first confirmation email code and probably requested they send another.

Presumably you didn't click on any links to confirm your email address? Did the confirmation email give any information or advice on what to do if you didn't request this?

It is somewhat disturbing that you then received further email communication from HMRC to that unconfirmed email address.

tkcarter

Thank you for commenting.
There were no links in any of the emails. The first 2 emails just said contact HMRC if it wasn't me who requested the code. No further detail as to who to refer to. 
The last email saying an application had been received didn't say anything about contacting them.