HMRC the object of a phishing scam
Photo by: Heart of Oak
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, or HMRC - the department that manages tax collection in UK - is presently under the cloud of a phishing attack.
WebSense, a company that makes web security products, brought the attention of the government agency to a website that was soliciting private information from taxpayers, in its name. Citizens were fooled into giving away their confidential information because the scam site closely mirrored the department’s official website.
The scam starts when people find a scam email claiming to come from the department among their personal emails. The email notifies recipients that based on their last years filings they are presently entitled to a tax return of £99.23.
To claim the refund they are required to complete and submit a form at the department’s website. Saying this much, the email offers reader’s a link.
The link is tainted. It takes those who click on it to the fraudulent site. Any information submitted here is waylaid by fraudsters and misused at their owner’s expense.
WebSense was able to track the website to servers in Denmark. It temporarily blocked access to the scam site thus preventing more people from becoming victims.
Source: HMRC.gov.uk
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