Clients regularly tell me they have had Messages from HMRC, some are almost believable!
HMRC will never notify you of a tax rebate by email or text. HMRC also won’t ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email or text.
If you have the slightest doubt that a HMRC email or text is fake, my advice is:
do not open attachments, they could contain a virus
do not click on links, they could take you to a fake HMRC site
do not disclose personal/confidential information
forward suspicious HMRC text messages to 60599 (charged at your network rate)
forward suspicious emails to the HMRC phishing team at, phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
check our security guidance: Dealing with HMRC Phishing and scams.
If you think you have disclosed personal information in response to a scam HMRC email or text, act immediately. Contact the HMRC security team at, security.custcon@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk, provide brief details of what you disclosed (e.g. name, address, HMRC User ID, password). Do not give your personal details in the email.
Protect yourself by reporting your suspicions to us and promoting our cyber security messages.
You can also report incidents to Action Fraud.
