HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) have issued warnings over Twitter messages claiming to be from HMRC.
These messages are auto generated in huge numbers and claim the recipient is under investigation by HMRC.
There’s a phone number or email contact for the recipient to contact for further information and those calls and emails go to a contact centre manned by scammers.
HMRC Advice on How to Avoid Scams
- Recognise the signs – Genuine organisations like banks and HMRC will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, password or bank details.
- Stay safe – Don’t give out private information, reply to text messages, download attachments or click on links in emails you weren’t expecting.
- Take action – Forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to [email protected] and texts to 60599, or contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 to report any suspicious calls or use their online fraud reporting tool.
- Contact HMRC directly.
HMRC have said that it is the elderly and vulnerable people who are generally targeted.
If you can’t verify the identity of the caller, do not speak to them – put the phone down.
HMRC say they do call people about outstanding tax bills, and sometimes use automated messages, but they always include your taxpayer reference number and the messages are not threatening.
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