January is a hard month for many people financially, after the festivities of Christmas and new year. For a lot of Brits, this is a time to set new goals and these often involve saving for future projects. Though there is help from the government, the next £299 cost of living payment isn’t due to be paid until February. In recent days, many Brits have felt a boost of hope as they received a text from HMRC which claimed they were due a tax refund.
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However, this is unfortunately a scam. People are receiving a text message which claims that they are due a refund of £276.74 from the 2020-21 tax year. Read on to learn more about this scam and what to look out for to confirm you are really being contacted by HMRC.
The HMRC scam
The message also contains a link that it asks people to click on. It says:
Follow instructions to claim your tax refund by clicking a web link which it provided.
People are being warned that this link does not take you to the government’s official Gov.uk website. This alert was raised by the charity Fraud Advisory Panel. The group took to X to warn people against clicking on messages or links from suspicious senders.
If you want to double check, the panel advises you to log into your government gateway using a trusted URL and look for any messages there.
How to know if it is really HMRC contacting you
Indeed, as the deadline for delivering your self-assessment tax is fast approaching, many people will be receiving messages from HMRC. Confusingly, the government confirms on their website that HMRC may contact you via text message and the text could contain a link to another page. However, it remains firm on one thing: you will never get a text from HMRC that asks for personal or financial information.
The government’s advice is as follows:
We advise you not to open any links or reply to a text message claiming to be from HMRC that offers you a tax refund in exchange for personal or financial details.
If you receive one of these scam HMRC texts then you can report it to 60599 or email phishing@hmrc.gov.uk. After you have reported it, you should delete the message.
Read more:
⋙ This is how much money you should have in your savings account
⋙ DWP believes thousands could get up to £12,400 payment, check if you're on the list
⋙ HMRC to start monitoring your bank account in tax crackdown on side hustles
Sources used:
Mirror: HMRC text warning issued as Brits told they are owed £277 tax refund
Birmingham Live: HMRC 'stop' warning as UK households told they're owed £277 refund
