Tax credits scam alert

People are being warned to be vigilant and alert to potential tax credit scams.

HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC) said in the 12 months to April 30, they responded to more than 1,154,300 referrals of suspicious contact from the public.

More than 576,960 of these offered bogus tax rebates.

In the same period, HMRC has worked with telecoms companies and Ofcom to remove more than 3,000 malicious telephone numbers and with internet service providers to take down over 15,700 malicious web pages.

HMRC responded to 443,033 reports of phone scams in total, 135 per cent up on the previous year.

HMRC bosses fear that anyone doing their tax credits renewal who has received a tax or benefits scam email or text might be tricked into thinking it was from HMRC and share their personal details with the criminals or even transfer money for a bogus overpayment.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services, said: “We’re urging all of our customers to be really careful if they are contacted out of the blue by someone asking for money or bank details.

“There are a lot of scams out there. If you have any doubts, we suggest you don’t reply directly, and contact us yourself straight away. Search GOV.UK for our ‘scams checklist’ and to find out ‘how to report tax scams’.”