Record number of fake HMRC websites deactivated over past year
A phishing scam can come in many forms, from email through to SMS
As fraudsters continue to target Britain’s micro business community, official figures reveal that a record number of fake HMRC websites were shut down in the last 12 months.
New figures from the tax office have shown that 20, 750 malicious sites acting as HMRC were sent requests to be taken down since summer 2017 an increase of 29% on the previous year.
During the 2017/18 financial year, HMRC responded to almost 1m phishing referrals. Since 2016 it has blocked almost half a billion phishing emails using HMRC in the from? address.
New technology has contributed to the strong response to scammers, reducing phishing texts by 90%.
Despite the success of HMRC’s anti-scam strategy, it has reiterated its warnings to tax payers of the tactics employed by fraudsters.
According to HMRC, the tax refund? email and SMS is the most common type of scam targeting tax payers. HMRC has reminded business owners and sole traders that is does not offer tax refunds by text message or by email.
HMRC said:
genuine organisations like banks andhMRCwill never contact people out of the blue to ask for their PIN, password or bank details. So, people should never give out private information, download attachments, or click on links in emails and messages they werent expecting.
Praseeda Nair is the editorial director of Business Advice, and its sister publication for growing businesses, Real Business. She's an impassioned advocate for women in leadership, and likes to profile business owners, advisors and experts in the field of entrepreneurship and management.
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A phishing scam can come in many forms, from email through to SMS
