Tax refund email

Firstly, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would never send notifications of a tax rebate by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email. So this email already sounds suspicious!

Also, look at the sender's email address. Fraudsters often have email accounts with HMRC or revenue names in them (such as '[email protected]'). These email addresses are used to mislead you. However be aware, fraudsters can falsify (spoof) the 'from' address to look like a legitimate HMRC address (for example '@hmrc.gov.uk'), so the email address isn’t conclusive.

But the safest way of dealing with this is not to open it or click on any attachment or links, and send it to [email protected]. HMRC should reply to confirm whether it is a scam email or not.

Date published 29 Aug 2014

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.