HM Revenue & Customs warn taxpayers and businesses that fraudsters are sending out fake, spoof emails in their name.
They give the following advice:
- Always check that you can see the padlock when you give confidential information on a website.
- An email that doesn’t use your name (e.g. “dear customer”) is likely to be a fake.
- A bogus sender, such as the names of departments that don’t exist.
- Embedded links in the email. They may look like the real thing but if you hover your mouse over them, you’ll see a different address ‘underneath’.
In general, we recommend that you don’t click on links in any email. It’s better to type in a known and trusted address.
You can forward fake HMR&C emails to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and read more advice from HMR&C on their website. You can learn how to stop unwanted email on GetSafeOnline.org.
