Government Warns of Tax Return Email Scam
As Tax Returns are handed in this week, scammers have targeted those people filling out their returns through a massive fraud email scam. The emails warn recipients that they need to fill out their tax return shortly and are then sent to a website where they are a tricked into entering a vast amount of personal information; including credit card and bank details.
So far victims have had their accounts entirely emptied of cash or had their credit card limits maxed out and the details of such cards and people will then likely be sold on to other criminal gangs. It was revealed two years ago that these data could be sold on the black market for as little as 50p per person.
Revenue & Customs, the government department that controls tax returns has warned all customers not to respond to any emails about tax returns and has informed customers that it will only contact them regarding their tax returns via regular post:
“We never use e-mails, telephone calls or external companies in these circumstances. We strongly urge anyone receiving such an e-mail to send it to us for investigation before deleting it.”
The department estimated that the numbers of phishing emails sent out in just the last few weeks could be well over 20,000. Scammers in the UK and abroad in countries like Austria and Mexico were shut down last year, but many scammers are very difficult to bring to justice due to difficulty in tracing people online on an international basis.
Just under 6 million people in the UK file tax returns every year, primarily used for the self employed or those who receive money from many different sources rather than a single job. Consumers filling their returns after the end of January could face a ?100 fine.