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Fraudulent e-mails. Pearson May News Update - Wednesday 30 September
- Tax system could be more helpful to business
- Internet takes biggest slice of UK advertising spend
- Fraudulent e-mails
Fraudulent e-mails
There have been a number of reports recently of some taxpayers receiving e-mails purporting to have come from H M Revenue and Customs indicating that the addressee is entitled to an Income Tax repayment. The e-mail then asks for various items of information to enable that repayment to be paid direct into his or her bank account. Needless to say if the information is provided no tax repayment is received and more likely than not there will be fraudulent transactions conducted withdrawing monies from the bank account which has been disclosed. H M Revenue and Customs have indicated that they have never asked taxpayers for any information relating to bank accounts etc by way of e-mail and thus anyone receiving an e-mail of this type should not reply to it. If you do receive one of these e-mails, H M Revenue and Customs have asked that it be forwarded to them at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk. H M Revenue and Customs cannot reply to every e-mail, but it has undertaken to investigate these and that it will take these matters very seriously indeed. Many of the e-mails which have been received by taxpayers and which have been reported do come from e-mail addresses which include the letters hmrc, which does at least initially give them some credence. H M Revenue and Customs have compiled the following list of key points to look out for: (1) H M Revenue and Customs will never ask you to disclose personal information such as your PIN number or your passwords or your bank details by e-mail. (2) When you log in on H M Revenue and Customs online services you are always in a secure session , which is shown by the padlock or an unbroken key in the bottom right hand corner of your website browser. (3) The beginning of H M Revenue and Customs address will change from http to https when a secure connection is made. (4) Most of the fraudulent e-mails are not normally addressed to an individual personally, they frequently have vague statements such as dear valued customer etc. (5) The fraudulent e-mails frequently include a link that you are asked to follow to take you to a website. When a mouse hovers over a link, it will often show the underlying URL. If this is different to the one typed in the e-mail do not click on it. This whole matter only emphasises the principle that none of us should respond to any telephone or e-mail request asking for details of our bank accounts, passwords, pin numbers etc. If you receive a telephone call from H M Revenue and Customs which seems strange, do not hand over any personal information, but request details of a telephone number which you can phone back. Even if you do so, if you have any doubts do not provide any personal information at all and absolutely never hand over extremely sensitive information. The above is for general guidance only and no action should be taken without obtaining specific advice.
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