ALERT - WARNING re email from INLAND REVENUE

[Pokey Hat]

Hi to all - to day I thought I was replying to an email from the INLAND REVENUE - contents - TAX REBATE - I thought yipeeee a wee Christmas bonus - well my whole day was spent on the phone to the Inland Revenue's Fraud squad - then the Bank's Fraud squad - to then have to visit the bank and go over it all again - my bank card was closed and for now no monies have left my account - what a blessing.

A few weeks ago I received an email from what I thought was the Inland Revenue - I forwarded it to my accountant - they informed me they have not received it - this went on for a few days or more so I got restless and decided I can fill it out myself - today was that day - (my accountant could receive an email from myself but not this one which was forwarded) - then went to the Inland Revenue site to check out a few things and was unable to access my details as my accountant has them - so a brain wave I will call them and talk to them - while chatting to the Inland Revenue person - I mentioned my previous actions re my TAX REBATE - ooops !!!! oh dear!!!!!! I was informed they would never send out an email asking for me to fill out such a form etc.... oh boy! they advised me on how I should proceed - which takes us to the above events.

I have published this information for those of you who may also receive such an email - please do not take action - instead forward it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

today I was lucky!
not sure where to post this so I opted for General -

[Kodiak]

This scam has been going on for quite some time. Over 3 years that I know of as every so often I get a e-mail just like the one you did. They all end up in the same place, in the Trash Bin. I also Block each and every one of them but they just use a different e-mail address and a month or two later I get another.

As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

[Pokey Hat]

Thanks Kodiak - I am more mad at myself for being impatient - my accountant would have spotted it - I got more frustrated that they did not get the email and got caught up with that - I was lucky - why I went on the IR site - then to call them - I just can't believe I was so lucky - many thanks again

[pat]

As Kodiak says this one has been going the rounds for some time - as long as the bank and the money from Africa, etc.

Thank goodness you managed to stop all payments but please check all your pass words and security settings - what have you given away when filling in those forms for future use?

You will certainly think twice when you get emails like that again.

Running a B&B I continually get the ones from supposedly Greece, Italy, USA, Africa - sending a delegation to my area and requiring -- rooms, they ensure the dates asked are well ahead, they then want to pay by credit card for the total amount! Then if I had taken the bookings they then cancel and ask for the monies to be returned, only the money has not been lodged in the first place!

Never trust anything where you are going to be giving your information.

[fred]

The inland revenue will never email you, your bank will not email you without putting your name in the email usually in the subject line, yahoo and google do not do lotteries, the president of the Bank of Nigeria doesn't even have a daughter. Never ever open any attachment, not even an image or a pdf file unless it is from someone you know and trust and not even then if it has been forwarded. Do not even reply to any email from anyone you do not know or your email address gets published on a verified address cd which the spammers pay more for.

Oh and the penis enlargement doesn't work either...erm...so I'm told.

[pat]

good one fred

[Pokey Hat]

hmmmmm fred - what can I say - but you sure made me laugh - with the last bit - hehehehehheheheh

many thanks to you all - did feel all alone in the situation - so once again thank you all - still laughing ma head off here

[joxville]

Oh and the penis enlargement doesn't work either...erm...so I'm told.It does, sort of; I tried the cream...my hands shrunk! :-(

[squidge]

Remember these fraudsters are quite sophisticated sometimes. My parents got a call from the windows helpdesk where they live in France. The person on the phone was plausible My mum was suspicious and asked to speak to a supervisor who gave her his name, phone number address direct line, all in london. She phoned him back to verify all this. They also knew that mum and dad had bought a new laptop and where they had bought it from and it was this fact more than anything which persuaded my mum they were genuine. She allowed them to remote access her laptop and charge her £100 which she paid. When she told me I went mad lol and she ended up reporting it to the police and having a whole load of stuff checked on her laptop. she got her money back from the credit card company but the man from the Windows Help Desk called her back several times - must have thought she was a daft old lady with deep pockets. The soon stopped when she very clearly told them to ....erm.... go away.

[RecQuery]

Much as I try to be understanding I really wonder who falls for these things. A government department or bank is not going to randomly phone/e-mail/mail you out of the blue with good news they will wait for you to contact them.


Never give out or confirm any personal information (no matter how innocuous it may seem) over the phone or to random people doing 'surveys' on the street. This includes people who claim to be working for the same company as you, seem to know some information already and are using all the correct terminology.
If you get a call claiming to be from your bank, government department, own company, etc. Take a reference number, look up the official number and call them back from a phone line you can trust. This applies to letters and e-mails also.
The only people who cold call - call you and don't wait for you to call them - are those who are selling something. This applies to bulk mail and e-mail.
If a call takes longer than a couple of seconds to connect; if there's a period of silence when you pick it up then 95% of the time it's crap and you're better off hanging up.
If it's an automated call or recorded message then 95% of the time it's crap and you're better off hanging up.
If an e-mail or letter has bad spelling and grammar or dodgy formatting then it's usually crap.
If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

Just step back from the situation and apply some critical thinking, don't get sucked in to it.

[Pokey Hat]

Thanks RecQuery - ref. no 6 oooops - I did wonder why the attachment was seperrate from the Inland Revenue link????????? - it should have been in their site - main thing is I am now sorted - no monies left my account - was lucky and will be much more vigilant in the future - thank you all again kind regards PH

[outsidethebox]

I follow my own golden rules.

If I get a cold call - hang up.
Email from anyone I don't know - delete.
Junk mail - bin.

I no longer get cold calls as I use a very handy little box from TrueCall (http://www.truecall.co.uk/home.aspx) which means I only receive the calls I want. Also registered with Telephone Preference Service (http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html) which stops most of the UK cold calls.
I use sophisticated SPAM controls on my mail server so rarely get any SPAM.
And junk mail has cut down massively since I registered with the Mailing Preference Service (http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/) and the MPS Your Choice (http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/yourchoice/) service, and Royal Mails Door to Door opt out (http://www.royalmail.com/you-home/controlling-your-mail). The first one stops junk mail with an addressee name, the second and third stop unnamed mail, I still get an occasional piece of junk mail, but less than one item every few weeks is not too bad!

[RecQuery]

Didn't know about the MPS, just registered with that.

The important thing is to not feel pressured into talking to them. They have a set of tactics designed to take advantage of courtesy, wear you down and steamroll you. Feel free to say that you're not interested and hang up or just hang up, you don't have to justify yourself or your decisions.

I know a few people who have had their telephone service and energy providers changed just by saying 'maybe' or that they would 'think about it'.

[Mrs Sweetie]

I, too, get many of these fraudulent emails and they all end up in the trash but, to be fair, the one I received today is highly sophisticated with the correct colouring for HMRC communications, illustrations and what appear to be links directly to the genuine site. I say what appear to be links because, if you hover your cursor over any link in an email and look at the bottom left hand side of your screen, you will see where the link ultimately goes. Every one of the links in this mail today goes to the HMRC web site except the one I am asked to click on for the refund. That appears to go to Korea. If I was still uncertain that the message was fraudulent, the sign off certainly gives it away "Best Regards, HM Revenue & Customs Refund Department". The day has yet to dawn when HMRC send best regards!

[Kodiak]

Surprise, Surprise, I received yet another e-mail today from the "Inland Revenue" who say that I am due a refund of £859.00.

I believe NOT, so it has been Binned and that e-mail blocked.

For those who have never received one of these Phishing e-mails here is a screen shot of waht to look out for. So if you receive one like this, Bin It.


http://i.imgur.com/focOV.jpg

[Mrs Sweetie]

My refund was for £931.50! :p

That's exactly what mine was like today. Normally they are just a plain message. Hover over the See Also on the right and they appear to lead to the genuine site, which is very clever. Hover over Refund Me Now and you'll see that the link has nothing to do with HMRC.

[Pokey Hat]

Hi all - thanks for your input re the start of this post - you guys have been great - hope a lot more people do not get conned into falling for this - hope a lot of people read all this so as to get the point across - so easy to get caught up in the amount - you get blinkered - then it is too late - again I was lucky - a happy festive season to you all when the time comes - PH

[series2A]

I had the windows helpdesk call on a day when I was bored, so I pretended it was my sons and I had no idea about computers. It took me 20 minutes just to turn it on under their instructions, this went on for another hour and a half, pressing the wrong buttons, getting them to explain something 7 or 8 times then doing it all wrong, accidently switching it off then having to be told all over again to turn it on. When I told them it showed up the battery was flat and turned itself off agian and I had no idea what a mains adaptor was they put the phone down ON ME!!