Fake HMRC Tax-Themed Emails are on the Roll in UK - Malwarebytes

Security researchers of security firm Malwarebytes reported that taxpayers in UK should be cautious of emails claiming they're owed tax refund from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the official taxing agency of the country.

The fake email tells the recipient that a tax refund of 100.60 Pounds are still pending. Owing to invalid account details they cannot be credited into his account. He is told to deposit a verified tax rebate request. The email justifies the delay of tax refund by giving various reasons. For instance: submitting incorrect records or applying for the refund after the expiration of the set deadline.

The recipient is asked to click on a link given in the email to have his request processed.

The email also notes that for security reasons some of the details of the recipient have been logged by HMRC, and deliberate input of wrong information will be criminally prosecuted.

Apparently, the crooks employed the URL shortening service of Ow.ly to conceal the malicious link leading to the repository, which is uncommon for phishing attempts.

Researchers say that the bogus rebate form requests for name, address, DOB, account number, postcode, full card details along with usual bits and information which are needed to pilfer the payment details.

Softpedia.com published a report on 30th August, 2014 quoting a comment on the scam by Christopher Boyd, Malware Intelligence Analyst of Malwarebytes as saying "in such other scams, crooks selected three to four times more sum as bait. However, cybercriminals may believe that a lower amount would work better in the scam as the above sum (referring to 100.60 GBP) is not very big to raise any suspicions."

HMRC distancing itself from such scam emails clearly announces on its official website that it will never send any notifications via email about tax rebate or ask taxpayers through email about their personal and payment information.

Never click on links in unwanted emails to be completely safe from phishers. If you have doubt, close the browser and reopen it and type the web address of the site on the address bar.

Please forward the HMRC-related phishing email to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/8/2014