Jasper
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:24 AM |
|
|
New Email scam - HMRC refund
Just had this email:
TAX RETURN FOR THE YEAR 2009
RECALCULATION OF YOUR TAX REFUND
HMRC 2008-2009
LOCAL OFFICE No. 3819
TAX CREDIT OFFICER: NEIL ROBINSON
TAX REFUND ID NUMBER: 381716209
REFUND AMOUNT: 344.79
Dear Applicant,
The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and as applicable, copyright in these is reserved to HM Revenue & Customs.
Unless expressly authorised by us, any further dissemination or distribution of this email or its attachments is prohibited.
If you are not the intended recipient of this email, please reply to inform us that you have received this email in error and then delete it without
retaining any copy.
I am sending this email to announce: After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a
tax refund of 344.79
You have attached the tax return form with the TAX REFUND NUMBER ID: 381716209, complete the tax return form attached to this message.
After completing the form, please submit the form by clicking the SUBMIT button on form and allow us 5-9 business days in order to process it.
Our head office address can be found on our web site at http://www.hmrc.co.uk/
Sincerely,
NEIL ROBINSON
HMRC Tax Credit Officer
officer.robinson@hmrc.co.uk
Preston
PR1 0SB
You then get a .htm attached to a site to put in all your details including card details for the refund.
Just email HMRC to confirm is a fake, pretty sure it is.
If you're not living life on the edge you're taking up too much room.
|
|
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:26 AM |
|
|
Saw similar ones a few months ago - they certainly go to some effort to persuade you, but you just wouldn't do it would you.
|
|
|
Mr Whippy
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:32 AM |
|
|
I currently have quite a few of these kind of things in my spam box, most are fake on-line bank account detail reconfirmations
|
|
|
tegwin
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:41 AM |
|
|
All the older and thicker people would fall for that though..... its "just not possible for an email/website to lie!!"
I didnt believe it because, the tax office owes me nearly £4K and I have been trying to get them to send me a cheque for nearly 5 months
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
|
|
|
bbwales
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:45 AM |
|
|
Hi
The big give away is the return email address, anything to do with government would be *****.gov.uk
regards
Bob
|
|
|
deezee
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:45 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
All the older and thicker people would fall for that though..... its "just not possible for an email/website to lie!!"
Tell me about it. I had to fix the directors computer after he had an email requiring his details for an "International Parcel awaiting
Collection" He had a 2gb file created by the key logger that was trying to capture all his bank details.
He spent a whole day refusing to believe it was his fault.... till another member of management told everyone what he did in a meeting 
|
|
|
londonsean69
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 09:57 AM |
|
|
There is a REALLY convincing paypal one as well.
What threw me initially was that it was actually addressed to me, personally. Not dear customer, but dear Sean Arrowsmith.
It said my card had expired, so I went on to the Paypal site (not through the link in that email) and checked. It hadn't.
The web address in the email was wrong, but you had to look fairly hard to work that out.
The biggest giveaway was when I went to the link anyway and managed to long in with the following details;
Username - donkeybreath
Password - yourmum
I emailed this to Paypal and, rather worryingly, they couldn't determine if they had sent it or not!
I get a lot of the bank ones, but they are for banks I am not, or have ever, been with.
Sean
And I have had the HMRC one a few times
[Edited on 11/9/09 by londonsean69]
|
|
|
Charlie_Zetec
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 10:19 AM |
|
|
Working on behalf of the Government and public sector to quite a high level, I notice these things a mile off. I always ask customers to send me
encrypted documents if they're that important, and if there's any doubt or just to back it up, we always exchange hard copies by recorded
delivery courier.
Unfortunately people often neglect written material, and rely on the internet too much - can have disasterous consequesces for those that know no
better.
If in doubt, don't do anything - give the company a call or go through their website direct, NOT links given.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!
|
|
|
BenB
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 02:16 PM |
|
|
I like using Mailwasher Pro for this kind of thing. When you preview the mail it shows what the link says it's linked to but also what
it's actually linked to.
Most of the time it'll say something like
www.paypal.com <www.paypal.com.cn> or something like that.
Then you know it's a con....
|
|
|
MikeRJ
|
| posted on 11/9/09 at 03:14 PM |
|
|
I always follow the links in these emails, just out of curiosity, and to fill their database with insulting names and passwords
A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a phishing site where the web site had not been secured properly, with the result that I was easily able to get
copies of the files that held the details they had collected. I hunted around of the web for a suitable authority and stumbled across the Met
computer crime division and called them to explain. They asked for a copy of the database, but said they could do nothing since the server was not
located with the UK. They also said they couldn't contact the people on the database, which I though was pretty poor.
I ended up going through the database and phoning all the people in the UK that had entered their phone numbers and explaining the situation so they
could cancel their cards, and emailed everyone else. Probably a stupid thing to do in retrospect, but as the police seemed uninterested I felt I had
to do something.
Most people were extremely grateful, apart from one woman who was convinced I was the evil scammer who had stolen her details even though I gave her
the Met crime reference number and asked her to call them. Slightly ironic that she was happy enough to follow the link in a blatantly scamming email
(dreadful grammar and spelling) and enter all her CC details including PIN, but then got all security concious when I suggested she cancel her card
ASAP!
|
|
|
