Self Assessment customers are being warned to be on their guard after more than 570,000 scams were reported to HMRC in the last year.
HM Revenue and Customs says reports of fraudulent texts, emails and calls have been logged in their thousands with criminals making persistent attempts to try and steal people’s money or personal information.
Now government officials are warning people to be on their guard following the passing of the Self Assessment deadline which, says the department, can increase the risk that people will be targeted as the scams make reference to the Self Assessment process to con people into thinking the call is genuine.
In the 12 months to January 2022 there were nearly 220,000 scams reported to HMRC offering bogus tax rebates alone.
While phone scams, in which criminals will attempt to appear as authentic HMRC staff often mimicking government messages as part of efforts to extract personal details, rocketed from 3,995 in January this year compared to 425 in 2020.
Customers can report suspicious phone calls using a form on the government website or forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and send texts to 60599.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said: “If someone contacts you saying they’re from HMRC, wanting you to transfer…
