HRMC Tax refund scam / spam

[x332race]

Be aware....I have just received an email purporting to come from the HRMC telling me that I have a tax refund of about £280 due for the last fiscal year....the email asked me to fill in a form giving my master card details, maiden name of mother, date of birth and other key details....

I was suspicious so contacted my accountant, who confirmed it was a scam...apparently HRMC do not use email for communications.

Be aware...the email looks very plausible and the return email address appears to be a proper HRMC one.

I copy below the content of the email:-

ATTN: Dear Applicant,
2009 - Recalculation Tax Refund

After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 284.23 GBP
Your TRN (TAX REFUND NUMBER): xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, please fill the payment form attached in the email.
Please submit the tax refund and allow us 3-9 business days in order to process it.

Note: For security reasons, we recommend that you close your browser after you have finished accessing your refund status.
- For security reasons, we will record your ip-address and date.
- Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicted.

Best Regards,
Greg Stephen
Tax Credit Office Agent
Preston
PR1 0SB
Telephone: 0845 300 3900
Opening hours:
8.00 am to 8.00 pm, seven days a week

 

[Rory]

I was suspicious so contacted my accountant,

Sorry, but.....seriously?

 

[Ted]

Also be aware that there are e-mails from Nigeria, advising you that lots of money will be deposited in your bank account if you give them your account details.

Some of these ARE NOT TRUE, and they do not put any money in your account.

Please note that this is in no way against Nigeria or their banking system - I am sure that people die intestate all the time, leaving loads of money which needs to be deposited in a complete strangers account, and I wouldn't want any of our members here to lose out.
Just be warned, that's all.

P.S. I might not be around too much in the near future, as I've just been advised that I've won loads of money in an obscure lottery that I don't remember entering.
I will of course post details of the new SL that I will buy as soon as the money s deposited into my account.

 

[Shude]

...the email asked me to fill in a form giving my master card details, maiden name of mother, date of birth and other key details....

If the initial fact that I'd not given my e-mail address to the tax office didn't immediately highlight this as a scam the bit I've quoted in bold would have. The tax office have absolutely no need to know anything about your credit cards! I doubt they keep facts like "mother's maiden name" on file either now I think about it.

 

[nick mercedes]

Also be aware that there are e-mails from Nigeria, advising you that lots of money will be deposited in your bank account if you give them your account details.

Some of these ARE NOT TRUE

Some?

ALL!

 

[JumboBeef]

ATTN: Dear Applicant,

ANYTHING which starts like this is a scam: if it was real they would use your real name.

 

[Ted]

Some?

ALL!

Really?

 

[Shude]

If anyone needs me I'll be checking the fuse on my sarcasmometer, it buried the needle a few minutes ago and now it's not working at all.

 

[nick mercedes]

Really?

You may not have won the top prize in the spanish lottery you've never heard of either...

 

[kwakdonut]

Really?

Yes

Every. Single. One!

 

[verytalldave]

The BIG giveaway is in the first two words............

"Dear Applicant".................

Any email without your NAME like this is 99.9999% spam or fishing.

I get so many emails like this its rare to actually ever get a real one.


EDIT..........re post #6 . Sorry. Just read your post. Apologies for the repeat information.

 

[x332race]

If the initial fact that I'd not given my e-mail address to the tax office didn't immediately highlight this as a scam the bit I've quoted in bold would have. The tax office have absolutely no need to know anything about your credit cards! I doubt they keep facts like "mother's maiden name" on file either now I think about it.

Exactly.....all these things lead me to suspect a scam...hence I was very suspicious....others ought to be too...

 

[Satch]

Really?

I also understand that ursine mammals defecate in arboreal environments.

 

[x332race]

The BIG giveaway is in the first two words............

"Dear Applicant".................

Any email without your NAME like this is 99.9999% spam or fishing.

I get so many emails like this its rare to actually ever get a real one.

Well, for some reason, I have not come across many of these, especially one purporting to come from HRMC....several "Nigerian" ones yes, but HRMC is new to me..

 

[Shude]

Exactly.....all these things lead me to suspect a scam...hence I was very suspicious....others ought to be too...

When I am online banking (not a euphemism) I am reminded by the bank that I don't have an e-mail address recorded with them.

That is just the way I like it

 

[verytalldave]

Exactly.....all these things lead me to suspect a scam...hence I was very suspicious....others ought to be too...

Thanks anyway. Nothing wrong being kept on your toes and alert to these things.

 

[Spinal]

If anyone needs me I'll be checking the fuse on my sarcasmometer, it buried the needle a few minutes ago and now it's not working at all.

I finally found a picture of you!

 

[flango]

When I am online banking (not a euphemism) I am reminded by the bank that I don't have an e-mail address recorded with them.

That is just the way I like it

Exactly the same with me, if they want to contact me they can call me or write to me. (We probably bank with the same outfit too)

 

[Spinal]

Exactly the same with me, if they want to contact me they can call me or write to me. (We probably bank with the same outfit too)

Letters are also prone to scams... so are phone calls...

I recently got a phone call "from my bank" asking me to verify that I was indeed myself... I asked them to verify that they were who they said they were... after some fussing, they told me my full name and birthdate... While normally this would have been enough, I was fairly annoyed that they were giving my details out to "strangers" (they still had no clue as to whom I really was) so refused to talk further...

Letter wise, I get a pile of letters every year from the "American Registry" (or something similar, they have an american flag and eagle on the envelope) for the domains I own which are up for renewal. These include my full name (which can be gotten from a whois lookup)

They make it look like I need to pay them to renew my domain, but in reality they are just another company trying it on... nothing to do with my registrar (which uses pretty much only email to contact me)

M.

 

[Shude]

I finally found a picture of you!

That episode was on Channel 4 only recently! The Comic Book Guy broke the detector with the phrase: "Sarcasm detector? That's a REALLY useful device!"