Sussex businesses need to be wary of fake HMRC scam

Nick from Plummer Parsons talks the rise in HMRC scams, and how to identify and avoid fraudulent activity. 

Scam artists pretending to be HMRC representatives are targeting businesses in a new wave of telephone fraud.

Over the past few years, phishing emails and texts from accounts claiming to be official correspondence from the HMRC have been steadily rising in prevalence to a point that now, it is easy to find a plethora of information warning exactly how to spot a fake email.

Despite a marked increase in sophistication in the style, tone and approach of these emails, with closely mirrored official language, and authentic looking images, sender tags and web links, the saturation of information surrounding phoney emails provides enough reference points to vet the real from the forged. Including a consistently updated list of known and reported phishing addresses released by the HMRC themselves.

In 2014 alone, almost 50 per cent of HMRC customers reported that they had been targeted by a phishing scam and in 2013 there were 91,000 phishing emails were passed on to the trade body.

But now the HMRC are warning businesses about a new phishing scam operating over the phone.

Businesses should be wary of receiving calls from scammers masquerading as employees of the HMRC, informing them that their a VAT return is overdue. In an effort to get hold of your payment details, the scammers will inform you that the filing deadline has been shortened and you only have 7 days to file the return and to immediately update your payment details.

These calls are targeted at small to medium sized businesses in an effort to exploit looser accountancy protocols.

Businesses should also be weary of the calls email counterpart coming from ‘HMRC Business Help and Support Emails <info@hmrccustomersupport143.top>’ with a malicious word doc or Excel XLS spreadsheet attachment that once clicked will flood your device with malware. This email attachment contains what appears to be a genuine word doc or Excel XLS spreadsheet with either a macro script or an embedded OLE object that when run will infect you.

If you receive one of these phone calls or emails, do not respond, instead, pass on any information straight to the HMRC at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.

If you are worried that the call or email is genuine, please talk to your accountant or payroll provider, as they will know whether they have, or have not, submitted the necessary information.

The HMRC have advised all businesses to check the numbers of any potentially fraudulent phone calls against their list of verified numbers on their website, or against the numbers on any official HMRC paperwork.

Thanks to Nick Brown, partner and Head of Charity Audits and Payroll at Brighton Accountants Plummer Parsons, for writing this blog. Find out more about Plummer Parsons or get in touch with Nick on their website. 

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