Shetland Taxpayers Warned of Scam E-mails

The people, particularly the taxpayers based in Shetland, Scotland are being advised to be careful of scam e-mails appearing to come from the Inland Revenue that was allegedly collaborated with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, but actually sent by the Internet fraudsters. Nonetheless, in order to acquire the rebate, one has to reveal his or her banking information.

The scam was unfolded when a Dunrossness-based (Shetland, Scotland) woman stated she had got one such e-mail, claiming that she owed a tax refund worth £988.50, following "annual calculations of her fiscal activity", according to a statement published by www.shetlandtimes.co.uk on March 24, 2010.

David Marsh, the Trading Standards Manager of SIC (Shetland Islands Council), claimed that a user should be careful if he\she gets an e-mail stating he owes an unexpected amount of money as tax rebate. This clearly means that the user is probably the victim of yet another phishing scam. These scams attempt to compel users to reveal their private information by landing them to inauthentic websites that appear real, as per the statement published by www.shetlandtimes.co.uk on March 24, 2010.

Apart from SIC, HMRC often tells the taxpayers that in case of contacting its customers regarding the refund, the only mode of communication is writing to them by post. They also claim that they never use e-mails or any other forms of communication for the purpose.

It is unfortunate that in spite of the awareness taxpayers get about phishing scams and hoax every year, a fraction of some people always consider these e-mails as genuine correspondence from the reputed authorities.

As a result, experts suggest that the users who are aware of these scam e-mails should spread alertness among their relatives, friends or colleagues who they think can be susceptible. Making people aware about the scam e-mails will prove fruitful, finally making the attackers puzzled as to why no one is hit by their scams.

Security experts strongly recommend taxpayers to forward the suspicious e-mails for investigation to facilitate the investigating groups to catch the hackers. Finally, as a safety measure, the e-mail recipients are advised to promptly delete the scam e-mails.

Related article: Settlement Reached in Lawsuits over Hacked Data

» SPAMfighter News - 4/7/2010