Criminals who mimic HMRC correspondence in order to defraud people don’t just work one scam. They understand marketing and hone in on specific target markets, often at particular times of year. As the start of the academic year begins, it’s a great time for them to target students with their fake emails, messages and calls.
What is this latest student scam?
HMRC are taking this so seriously that their Head of Cyber Security wrote to all universities asking for their help to protect you. Last year, there was a spate of fake emails that even included the detail ‘ac.uk’ as the end of their email address.
This year’s letter to universities says: “While it was great to see a number of universities and student unions share our phishing advice in response, we are concerned that another wave of email scams – which offer fake tax refunds – could occur from the start of this new academic year. New university students who may have had little or no interaction with the tax system might as a result be more likely to be taken in.”
If you’ve been working all summer in readiness for your new term, it may seem likely that you are due a tax refund. But HMRC will not contact you for this reason. In order for any taxpayer to get a tax rebate, they must take the initiative and submit an official claim.
Why are they targeting students?
As the letter explains, unless you come to university or college as a mature student, you will have only needed to have minimal interaction with HMRC. You will have less genuine contact to compare it to and so are more vulnerable to fraudulent communication. Going to university is an exciting adventure, but it can also be a confusing time, especially when it’s your first year. Lots of life administration becomes your own responsibility and it’s easy to drop the ball. But the consequences of being taken in by one of these phishing scams are huge.
What are the consequences?
Some of the fake HMRC emails contain links or attachments which, when clicked, take people to a phishing website that can mine your computer or phone for personal and financial data. This can lead to theft of money, direct debits being set up using your information, paying for items using your card details and even having control of your computer – including microphone and webcam.
Other fake HMRC emails ask for your bank details ‘so that a tax refund can be sent to you’. In this instance, you end up giving these criminals everything they need to empty your bank account.
How widespread is this fake HMRC email problem?
Last year, the number of tax related fake emails rose by 20,000, taking the grand total to 620,000. This includes thousands of scams targeting students. And this is just those that were reported to HMRC. Imagine how many are actually sent out.
And it’s not just emails. There has also been a massive rise in phone scams. In 2016, only 400 were reported, rising to 100,000 last year. These kinds of calls are often very aggressive, threatening recipients with police involvement or massive fines if tax bills are not paid immediately during the call.
What are the universities doing?
Universities are passing on these HMRC warning to their students as part of their introductory information. They also provide support to students that fall victim to these scams. As Chief Executive at Universities UK, Alistair Jarvis said: “This action will help to raise awareness of the risks of tax scams. The security and welfare of students is always a top priority for universities. The message to students is to remain vigilant and question anything that seems unusual. We would encourage any student who fears their account may have been misused to speak to either their university support services, banks, or to the police.”
What are HMRC doing?
HMRC are constantly fighting these criminals on a variety of fronts and achieve regular successes.
In the last year alone HMRC have:
- Worked with Ofcom and mobile companies to reduce the number of fake phone calls, using defensive technology.
- Identified and requested 12,366 phishing websites be taken down.
- Found and stopped 3,441 phishing scams before anyone even reported them.
- Changed their own payment procedure. Now, if you are paying the real HMRC over the phone, you use your keypad to enter your card details. This used to be done by reading them out to the call handler. They still stay on the line with you, but they have no way of knowing your payment details.
- Criminals can no longer use real HMRC helpline numbers to defraud taxpayers. Because HMRC invested in new control systems to prevent it.
HMRC do all they can to safeguard taxpayers. They want us to be able to trust them and their real communications. They have had particular success with text scams, which have gone down by 90% since 2016. Their new tech also means that an estimated half a billion fake emails were blocked from even reaching their targets’ inbox. And they continue to adapt their cyber security to match the criminals’ ever-evolving strategies.
What do I need to do to avoid being scammed?
‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.’ This is definitely trues of emails offering you tax refunds from HMRC. The first bit of advice is to read all your emails with a good pinch of suspicion. After all, they don’t just mock up HMRC style emails. In the same letter to the universities, HMRC also flag up the TV Licence Company and DVLA as other currently faked communications.
The rest of the advice from HMRC is all good common sense.
- Look for the signs: your bank, other financial organisations and HMRC never randomly get in touch to get your password, account details or PIN. Do not give any personal or financial details.
- Think before you click: do not click on any suspect links or attachments, do not click send on any text or email reply until you have authenticated the sender.
- Protect others: If you identify a fake email claiming to be from HMRC, don’t just delete it. Forward it to [email protected]. And forward fake texts to 60599. All information helps HMRC combat these criminals.
- If you have responded with bank details and then have your suspicions, get in touch with your bank as a matter of urgency. Forget feeling embarrassed, just try to get ahead of the consequences with quick action. If you end up losing any money, reporting this to Action Fraud helps them stop it from happening to anyone else.
- Take your time. More than ever, in our everyday lives, speed is of the essence. Whenever you receive something that looks like an official HMRC communication, don’t reply straightaway while you’re going between lectures. Flag it, then look at it when you can fully concentrate and interrogate its authenticity. Don’t panic and reply with all your details so you don’t anger HMRC, don’t assume it’s fake and just delete it, don’t click on the link ‘just to see’. Take the time to read it and respond appropriately.
Student tax and money guides
At Tax Rebate Services we don’t offer a product for students but we have produced a free student tax guide which is available to all students so they can educate themselves about tax in general.
We also have free money guides and calculators which cover subjects like personal loans, credit cards and loans. There’s a free money health check included as well which is a great way to start planning for the future.
