Author: Chloe Naicker
Increasing number of HMRC coronavirus scams
Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, there has been an exponential increase in fraudsters impersonating tax officials, in order to obtain financial details during lockdown. Numerous scam emails, posing to be from the UK tax authorities have been sent out since the start of the pandemic, as offenders seek to take advantage of the vulnerability of taxpayers who have financial fears due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The phishing emails often refer directly to Covid-19 in many cases targeting those individuals trying to participate in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). Phishing emails are compiled in such a way, that they appear to be from a trustworthy source to con people into clicking on links and submitting personal information such as passwords, email login details and banking details. They are often accompanied by fake websites, posing as HMRC or a specific bank.
See example of phishing email: (source: HMRC)
HMRC has emphasised that it will never contact individual taxpayers on social media to offer a tax rebate or refund or request banking details to process claims.
See example of scam through a text message: (source: HMRC)
Taxpayers need to send through any suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and send any suspicious texts to 60599. The government has published examples of scams on its web pages, if you receive something suspicious, you can compare it to these examples.
Do not under any circumstances give your details away. Always check with your advisor first!