Forum Topic

HMRC and scam alerts

The item covering scams and the comment that HMRC does not contact you and ask for personal details made me smile. HMRC is woefully unaware of the possibilities for fraud in its communications.  I received a call from HMRC (some time ago, which turned out to be genuine) asking me for my date of birth before they would tell me why they had rung. They simply did not understand why I refused to give it and were quite rude.Now I am being bombarded with "information" emails which  address me simply as "Dear customer" but contain numerous links to click onto, including one to click onto if you have reason to believe it is a phishing email !! I send them all back to the HMRC phishing check dept, to make sure they are genuine (they usually are) but are they really too stupid to understand that no responsible organization should EVER rely on their recipients to simply trust what they have received, without adhering to any of the normal protocols. It is simply irresponsible.

Janis Humberstone ● 2520d3 Comments

They're hopeless. I get at least one email from them every year asking me to log into my account as there is a new message for me. There never is a new message.

Frances Clarke ● 2518d

They are more than hopeless - they are irresponsible to do this and lull people into a false sense of security instead of making it quite clear how "customers" can ensure they are not looking at a phishing email. An electronic Xmas card, I received, contained all these warnings so I am sure it is not beyond the wit of HMRC to do the same.

Janis Humberstone ● 2518d

I find their protections pretty thorough. If you receive an email from anyone dont use the links. Simply access the website (in this case HMRC) via the government portal by using your unique ref number they will then send you an access code to use via your mobile or landline.  My annual tax returns are pretty pain free using their site.

Andy Pike ● 2518d