New phishing emails scam
HMRC is warning of a new fraudulent email being sent to taxpayers. The emails refer to the publication of the latest version of the Employer Bulletin – issue 46 (due to be published on 17 February) and contains an attachment to the purported document.
The phishing e-mail, built on the original wording in HMRC’s e-alert, removes the URL link to the HMRC website and replaces it with a zipped document containing a Trojan virus. This is the second time this scam has been reported, it also happened with the September 2013 issue of the bulletin.
As with other fraudulent emails, these are not genuine HMRC messages and should be disregarded. This is a phishing scam that uses bogus e-mails and websites to trick taxpayers.
The phishing emails are being sent from all around the world. HMRC has helped close down illegal sites in countries including the United States of America, Russia and Japan, as well as central and eastern Europe. However, the proliferation of these types of emails continues.
Any of our readers who are unsure as to the authenticity of any email purporting to be from HMRC should avoid clicking on any links until satisfied that the email is legitimate.