Tax Refund “Notification”
If you receive an e mail or text message “from HMRC” informing you about “a tax refund notification” ….or indeed anything else, it’s a scam pure and simple. DO NOT RESPOND! I have had a number of client’s call me about emails they think are from HMRC regarding refunds. I even had a client tell me he received a call from HMRC saying they were taking him to court. When we checked the phone number he was asked to call it had nothing to do with HMRC or any of their debt recovery agents. If you type a number into google you get a lot of information about the owners of that number. The following government LINK looks at ways to protect yourself
HMRC NEVER send e mails or text messages about tax refunds. They will always write to you in the first instance. The HMRC debt recovery department may call you if you owe HMRC money and haven’t paid for some time. Even the debt recovery department will write to you in the first instance. Always make sure you are certain who you are talking to before you disclose any information on the phone or via email. If you have any doubts then don’t share your personal information.
The fraudster’s objectives will be to:
1) Distract you so that your guard is lowered
2) Steal as much information about you including:
- Bank details – ie account name / number / sort code
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Place of birth
- Home / work address
- Tax reference / UTR
- National insurance number
- Passport numbers
- PINs
- Online security information
- Other investments
- Family details
REMAIN ALERT
Professional fraudsters are:
- A) Good at what they do
- B) Very plausible
- C) Experts at extracting information over time
Don’t be their next victim. Don’t respond to email tax refund notification report them!
Finance Equation Ltd are tax specialists, both simple and the complex. Contact us to see how we could help you legally reduce your tax bill.
