Despite continued warnings by HM Revenue & Customs, and action being taken to disrupt these attacks with the cooperation with other law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas, the online attacks, known as phishing, have continued in October, with an unprecedented 10,000 reports of the fraud made to HM Revenue & Customs on one day alone.

The scam email tells the recipient they are due a tax refund and then asks for bank account or credit card details.  Anyone giving these details will risk their bank accounts being emptied and credit cards being used to their limit.

The latest scam originates from various different websites, which operate for 20 minutes before changing their domain names.

HM Revenue & Customs confirm they will only contact taxpayers who are due a refund in writing by post.

Taxpayers are advised not to click on websites or links contained in suspicious emails or open attachments and to forward suspicious emails to HM Revenue & Customs at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete them.

Posted on 28 Oct 2009