Beware: HM Revenue and Customs Phishing Scam

I would just like to warn business people in the United Kingdom who might have recently completed a Self-Assessment Tax Return of a particularly ingenious (if not nasty) phishing scam.

Technically, it is not much as far as phishing scams go, but its timing and content might just lull some people into acting on it.

The email advises the recipient that HM Revenue and Customs have just completed their calculation of the recipient's tax return and notifies them that they have actually overpaid some tax.

The deadline for the submission of self-assessment tax returns is the 31st January, so such an email is at least plausible in February - and who would not be pleased to receive a tax rebate?

The email lures the victim to a repayment page, which asks for their account details, and I suspect that this is where their nightmares would really start if they did provide their details...

The actual email contains absolutely no information relating to the recipient, which should ring the alarm bells of those receiving them.

My comments on another (technically much nastier) phishing scam earlier this month about looking out for and including "shared interactions" in your emails apply here, so if you think you might have been lured, then you should read that blog entry too.

You have been warned!!