Tax-back con hits uni students

THOUSANDS of university students have been targeted by scammers offering fake tax refunds in a bid to steal their money and personal details.

HM Revenue & Customs said it had received thousands of fraud reports in just a few weeks and had never seen a tax scam attack on such a large scale.

HMRC is urging all university chiefs to warn of the danger but named some where students have been targeted, including Aberdeen, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Imperial College London, Manchester Metropolitan and Newcastle.

Tax refund scams usually involve the use of a bogus version of gov.uk

Mel Stride, of the Treasury, said: “HMRC will never inform you about tax refunds by email, text or voicemail. If you get one of these messages, it is a scam.”