Today I got an email in my junk folder (I always keep an eye as occasionally some good emails do find their way into no-where land) the subject was “Automated Tax Refund”.
Tax Refund Notification
After the last annual calculations of your
fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive tax refund
of 348.50 GBP.
You are require to submit the tax refund request using the tax
refund reference below and allow up 6-9 working days in order to process
it
LINK REMOVED
Note : A refund can be delayed for different reasons, for example
submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.we apologise for any
inconveniences and thank you for your co-operation.
Yours Sincerely
HM
Revenue & Customs
1) How would they have my email address? HMRC usually send letters out in the post, even for a tax refund, to say a cheque is on it’s way.
- Google part of the email to see if anyone else has had this scam.
- Go to the site in question, i.e. eBay, paypal, your bank as you would normally and check your account if a message has been sent from them (Highly unlikely) there will be a record on the site.
I picked on randomly just to see what happens, you are then taken to what I presume is a mock up of your banks log-on screen and asked to log in.
If I had actually logged in, the sender of the mail would now have my log on details to my bank account and the ability to make payments to whoever they want (not that they would have got a lot from me haha).
No legit company would be offering a refund into your bank account like this without actually checking you are who you say you are (No details on the email or on the link).
Please read emails carefully, if you think it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Check if other people have had similar emails by searching the net. NEVER EVER give out bank details, passwords, or personal info unless you are certain you are on the official site and not a very clever mock-up or you could be stung.
PS. Apparently there is an identical mail being sent to Americans as though it’s from the IRS rather than HM Revenue & Customs. Beware the global Internet means we have Global phishing too.