Scam emails - HMRC

[Paul Waine]

I've rec'd the message below in my junk email folder this morning. It's the second junk email I've received in the last week or so, purporting to be from HMRC.

Of course, It's getting very close to the end of the tax year on 5th April, so maybe this has got the scammers busy.

The message included a link. Of course, I've not included this below.

I love it that they say "replies will not be answered..."

Scam message

P800
We have reviewed your tax liability for the year Based on our calculation, you are eligible for a £578.00 tax refund.

For this reason, Be sure to complete your P800 correctly, as any mistakes will take longer to process.

Find your attached P800 instructions.

Sincerely,
HM Revenue & Customs.


Please note that this is an automatically generated email, replies will not be answered.

[bobinho]

Pigeon English ticks all the boxes for a “report as scam” follow up.

[pureclaret]

quick get the £578 sent to you!!!!!

[Mondsley]

As an ex employee of HMRC I can assure you that they will neither e mail or telephone you.

[dsr]

As an ex employee of HMRC I can assure you that they will neither e mail or telephone you.

And to add to security, they won't even answer your emails or your phone calls when you ring them.

[ijkay]

forward email to
report@phishing.gov.uk

[GodIsADeeJay81]

And to add to security, they won't even answer your emails or your phone calls when you ring them.

I always laugh at the phone call scam, an automated message and when you press one you get connected to the scammer straight away, when the entire UK population knows it takes at least an hour minimum to be connected to a person at HMRC on the phone

[Paul Waine]

I always laugh at the phone call scam, an automated message and when you press one you get connected to the scammer straight away, when the entire UK population knows it takes at least an hour minimum to be connected to a person at HMRC on the phone

The scam used to be that as soon as you "pressed 1" a massive charge would appear on your phone bill. That was all these calls were aiming to do, collect money from the unsuspecting.

I'm not sure this particular scam can still works. Does anyone know if they've capped/blocked all the premium rate phone charges?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

The scam used to be that as soon as you "pressed 1" a massive charge would appear on your phone bill. That was all these calls were aiming to do, collect money from the unsuspecting.

I'm not sure this particular scam can still works. Does anyone know if they've capped/blocked all the premium rate phone charges?

I'm on payg so no charges for me.
What they'd want is me to give them all my information to "confirm who I was", they'd never have any to hand and make up something about data protection meaning they couldn't see it etc.
I'd play around with them when I was bored and then just laugh, call them scamming cnts and hang up

[Bosscat]

I keep getting these and I haven't had any HMRC dealings for 6 years since I retired


I report them all to the email ijkay put in his email report@phishing.gov.co.uk

[wilks_bfc]

I’m always puzzled why the “confirm who you are” isn’t a 2 way thing.

Why isn’t there the process for you to give the companies you deal with a “password” that they have to give you when they call you

[pureclaret]

I blame the telephone/ internet providers, if they wanted to they could stop these, but it costs them money to do so

[elwaclaret]

I had reason to talk to HMRC a couple of month ago, when asked if had not received an email I replied - I never open anything that comes into my mailbox saying HMRC - 90% are scams. The lady was honest… yes I know, I don’t blame you.

[Burnleyareback2]

I get a weekly call from sky about my broadband, I’ve not been with them for 6 years.

When I’m in the mood my record for keeping them on the line is 12minutes before they hang up. I know I can do better than this, it’s a constant challenge.

[Paul Waine]

forward email to
report@phishing.gov.uk

This morning I've rec'd a further scam email - and increasing the amount of my tax refund to £978.00.

I've forwarded, as you suggest.

Thanks.

___________________

Copy scam email - with the link removed.

P800
We have reviewed your tax liability for the year Based on our calculation, you are eligible for a £978.00 tax refund.

For this reason, Be sure to complete your P800 correctly, as any mistakes will take longer to process.

Find your attached P800 instructions.

Sincerely,
HM Revenue & Customs.

Please note that this is an automatically generated email, replies will not be answered.

[Paul Waine]

And, if anyone is curious, this is the acknowledgement I've rec'd from the National Cyber Security Centre.

____________________

Thank you for forwarding a suspicious message to us. Timely alerts from people like you help us to act quickly and protect many more people from being affected.
________________________________________
As of 28th February 2022 the number of reports received stand at more than 10,500,000 with the removal of more than 76,000 scams across 139,000 URLs.
________________________________________
We are unable to inform you of the outcome of our review, but we can confirm that we do act upon every message received.
We will analyse the content of the email you have sent to us and any websites it links to. If we discover activity that we believe to be malicious, we may:
• seek to block the address the email came from, so it can no longer send emails
• work with website hosting companies to remove links to malicious websites
• raise awareness of commonly reported suspicious emails and methods used with the help of our partners
Please note…
You should not report a suspected crime to us. If you think you may have been a victim of fraud or cyber crime, you should report it:
• to Action Fraud if you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland: www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040
• to Police Scotland if you live in Scotland: call 101
There are a number of ways you can protect yourself from attacks like this and the NCSC has published plenty of advice that will help you to stay secure online; for example:
• The NCSC’s top tips for staying secure online
• Phishing attacks: how to deal with suspicious messages and emails
• Securing your devices
For a full overview of the NCSC’s advice for the general public please see our dedicated individuals and families webpage.
How we handle the information you send to us
• Transmitting information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of an individual’s data, which is sent at your own risk. We do however have procedures and security features in place to keep data secure once we receive it.
• We may share details with various government departments, our Law Enforcement partners (such as the National Crime Agency and the City of London Police) and other organisations where doing so is necessary and proportionate for the proper discharge of our statutory functions. We won’t share an individual’s information with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes.
• The information we hold is exempt from Freedom of Information requests.
• For further detail on how we handle information you send us, please see our Privacy Statement.
• Further information about reporting suspicious emails to the NCSC can be found at www.ncsc.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails.
Thank you for your continued support.
Signed
National Cyber Security Centre

[Rileybobs]

They’re playing hard ball, increasing their offer by £400 in just a few days. If I was you I’d hold your nerve and see what they’re offering this time next week.

[Commy]

It's good when you get back hundreds of thousands more than you will ever pay in. Much better than messing with shares.

[dougcollins]

HMRC send you the P800, not vice versa.