Taxpayers warned over scam

Louise Bours, North West UKIP MEP

Taxpayers have been warned by local MEP Louise Bours not to be tricked by bogus emails purporting to be from HMRC.

“Although the Inland Revenue has introduced controls to stop such phishing emails reaching their customers it has not completely eradicated the problem,” said Ms Bours, UKIP Euro-MP.

“While many people these days are on their guard against identity theft some people could be fooled into thinking they have received a genuine HMRC message and unwittingly hand over all their private information.

“Only today I was contacted by one of my constituents who had just received such a bogus email saying that they were due a tax refund and to click on a form that then asked for absolutely all the information a fraudster would need to hack their accounts and set up new ones,” said Ms Bours.

“They wisely ignored it and forwarded it to the HMRC at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk,
and I would advise anyone else who receives a suspect email like that to do the same.

“I hate to think of people being taken in by such scams, particularly the more vulnerable in society, and I hope that those unscrupulous people behind them are traced and prosecuted, though as I suspect they are often based abroad, this can be difficult,” said Ms Bours.