HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is warning customers NOT to share sensitive personal information online to avoid their identities being used to commit tax fraud.
HMRC is aware that criminals are attempting to obtain customers’ Government Gateway logins and other personal details, enabling them to register for Income Tax Self Assessment and submit bogus tax refund claims before pocketing the repayment.
Individuals, ranging from teenagers to pensioners, are being targeted by fraudsters seeking to ‘borrow’ their identities on social media platforms. In return, the individual is promised a cut of the tax refund ‘risk-free’.
Handing over sensitive personal information to criminals like this, even inadvertently, risks individuals involving themselves in tax fraud and having to pay back the total value of the fraudulent claim.
Customers should, therefore, only deal with HMRC directly or through their tax advisor in relation to their Self Assessment tax refunds.
Simon Cubitt, Head of Cybercrime at HMRC, said: “People need to think extremely carefully before they involve themselves in an arrangement like this because if something looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is.