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Havering Councilor Warns UK Citizens about Tax-Related Scam E-Mails

Frederick Thompson Councilor of Havering (UK) is cautioning citizens for being vigilant of fake e-mails that pose as messages from HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) the UK's official tax agency. London24.com reported this on May 4, 2011.

Stated Councilor Thompson that recently a fraudulent electronic mail had reached the inbox of a friend who almost believed it till the time she called to enquire about him.

The electronic mail had the logo of HMRC and the subject line, "Tax Refund Notification."

In it the text mentioned of a 468-pound worth tax refund that the recipient of the e-mail was eligible for.

Further the e-mail directed that the recipient should hit on "Get Started" for getting his tax refund deposited into his bank account, adding that he required perusing the details about the list of banks provided in the e-mail.

Meanwhile, Councilor Thompson stated that he heard some persons discussing the e-mail when he realized that it (e-mail) was truly dangerous which could dupe anyone with the given web-link that led onto a form online soliciting financial data to an extent that could easily lead to an account theft.

Besides, it isn't merely Councilor Thompson who's cautioning about such scams, but security researchers as well particularly during April 2011 when it's the last days for submitting taxes. State the researchers, the e-mails are especially deceptive because they talk of tax concessions, which appear quite plausible during this time.

In the meantime, HMRC as well observes that it never sends e-mails as notifications to citizens about their tax status.

Thus owing to the present scams, HMRC recommends anybody who gets the above kind of e-mails that they should erase them instantly without hitting on any of their web-links. A prompt telephone contact with the tax agency -it could be one's accountant too- may validate if the person has any pending refund and the manner in which he can claim it, HMRC notes.

Eventually, similar to the HMRC cautioning taxpayers in UK, the Internal Revenue Service, the official US tax department, too is alerting taxpayers in the country about tax refund related scam e-mails.

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