2-minute read
HMRC has warned millions of self-employed people to watch out for scammers in the run up to the 31 January Self Assessment deadline.
One of the most common scams involves fraudsters pretending to be HMRC. They do this over the phone, by text or over email.
Here’s how to spot a scam and what to do when you find one.
HMRC says that it’s received a massive 900,000 reports of suspicious contact over the last year.
Out of those 100,000 were phone scams while 620,000 involved bogus tax rebates. These calls or messages promise a tax refund – and to receive it, you have to hand over your payment details.
Here are some of the most popular scams:
HMRC has a Customer Protection team that hunts out and shuts down scams. But the tax body says you should take steps to make sure you don’t fall for a scam in the first place.
Gov.uk has examples of scam HMRC communications so compare what you’ve received against those if you’re not sure.
Image credit: gov.uk example of a fake HMRC website.
Have you ever fallen victim to a scam? Let us know in the comments below.
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