HMRC warns of new tax rebate scam

By Sarah Engle, Fri 13 Aug 2010 - Published in Banking

The UK's savers have been warned of a scam in which thieves are calling victims pretending to be taxmen.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) revealed that the fraudsters are cold-calling taxpayers and telling them they are due a tax rebate, after which they ask for the victim's bank account details.

The thieves then attempt to remove money from the individual's bank account, leaving them at risk of being out of pocket as well as having their details sold on to other criminals.

Chris Hopson, director of customer contact at HMRC, said that the organisation will never reach people by telephone calls, emails or external companies if they are due a rebate and always uses letters.

"If customers receive an email claiming to be from HMRC, we recommend they send it to us for investigation before deleting it permanently," he added.

Figures recently published by UK fraud prevention service CIFAS found that there was a 14 per cent increase in identity fraud during the first half of 2010, when compared to the same period last year.

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