There’s nothing nicer than receiving confirmation that you are entitled to a tax rebate and that HMRC is going to pay you money for once. But the trouble is, scammers and fraudster know that we love the idea of such a refund and are commonly impersonating HMRC to con information from us and steal money. So how do you spot a fake tax rebate email or text? And what can you do about it?
Growing problem
The problem with fake tax rebate emails and texts isn’t a new one – back in 2013, the HMRC reported that 91,000 phishing emails had been reported to them. These all attempted to con ordinary people as well as small business owners into disclosing bank information to receive a tax refund that did the opposite – took money from the account instead. Others were led into disclosing credit card or debit card information or even passwords.
The biggest problem is that it is becoming harder to spot the fakes and the cons. At one time, they were easy – terrible English or strange formatting as well as email addresses that had nothing to do with HMRC. But as we got wise to these tactics, so the scammers upped their game.
Spotting the fakes
For starters, they often use what seems like genuine email addresses – for example, ‘no-reply@hmrc.gov.uk’ looks like the real deal. But the key to spotting the fake email is that this will be followed by another random email address that has nothing to do with HMRC.
So, the first thing to do with any email is to look at the full sender’s address to see if that tell-tale sign is there.
Another thing to remember is that the HMRC will never send you an email or text to tell you that you have a tax refund due.
It only ever contacts you by post or will send a notification that you have a message waiting in the government gateway if you are self-employed. This means that the only genuine communication about a tax rebate will be through these means – one telling you on email, especially if it mentions a figure will be a fake.
Fake texts
The other scam is through text messages. You will receive a text telling you that you have a specific amount waiting for you in a tax rebate and that you need to follow a link in order to get it. Another branch of the scam is to target companies who have a tax bill to pay, saying they need to pay it through the link provided – this then allows the fraudsters to pocket the money, not HMRC.
Again, HMRC doesn’t send texts to people, especially not when they include specific figures. While that 1,000 rebate might sound tempting, never click it as it will be a phishing scam to steal your bank details or card information.
What to do if you get caught out
We all get caught out from time to time or realise we have a fake on our hands and want to escalate it. If you think you have received a fake email or text, you can forward it to the specific numbers or email addresses on HMRC website.
You can also use the various HMRC contact numbers that handle fraud queries and they can check your account for you.
If you think you have given out information to a fraudulent scheme, get in touch with your bank immediately.
They may need to stop and reissue your card and will put a watch on your account for any unauthorised activity. They can also take information to pursue the matter if this is required.