HMRC warns self-employed over rise in scam tax refund offers
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Posted: Thu 15th Feb 2024
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has urged people to be wary of bogus tax refund offers after it responded to 207,800 referrals from the public of suspicious contact in the year to January.
The figure was up 14% from the 181,873 messages reported in the previous 12 months. Over 79,000 were fake tax rebates.
With more than 11.5m people submitting a 2022/23 Self Assessment tax return by the 31 January deadline, HMRC said taxpayers might be taken in by an email, phone call or text message offering a tax refund.
Scammers copy the design of genuine websites and send phishing messages which aim to use personal details to access bank accounts or sell on to other criminals.
Example of a scam tax debate email:
HMRC said it will not email, text or phone a taxpayer to tell them that they are due a refund or ask them to request a refund. People receive repayments in their bank account, and can see any transactions in their online HMRC account and in the HMRC app.
You can report suspicious communications by forwarding emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk, submitting details of scam phone calls here, and forwarding suspicious texts claiming to be from HMRC to 60599. You can check if a contact is genuinely from HMRC here.
Kelly Paterson, HMRC's chief security officer, said:
"With the deadline for tax returns behind us, criminals will now try to trick people with fake offers of tax rebates.
"Scammers will attempt to dupe people by email, phone or texts that mimic government messages to make them appear authentic.
"Don't rush into anything, take your time and check HMRC scams advice on GOV.UK."
The HMRC warning follows the launch earlier this week by the Home Office of the new 'Stop! Think Fraud' campaign. It provides advice on how to stay safe online.
In the year to September 2023, one in 17 adults in England and Wales were victims of fraud.
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