HMRC refund scam warning from West Yorkshire police and Action Fraud

People are being warned to ignore any emails purporting to be from HMRC stating that they have been issued a refund.
HMRC are warning people that these emails are not legitimate.HMRC are warning people that these emails are not legitimate.
HMRC are warning people that these emails are not legitimate.

The emails contain a link which you are encouraged to click on, and you will then be asked to enter your credit/debit card details in order to 'receive' the refund.

These are not legitimate emails. HMRC will never contact you via email or text message regarding refunds. If you are due a refund, you will be notified via post.

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Here are some things to look out for that will help you to identify whether or not an email is legitimate:

1) The email address that the email has been sent from will likely bare no relevance to the organisation, be spelt incorrectly, have additional letters/numbers, or be from an email provider that is available to the public e.g. Hotmail, Gmail etc.

2) The email will contain spelling errors, grammatical errors, poor punctuation, or appear unprofessional.

3) The email will prompt you to enter your personal details such as bank account information.

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If you receive an email or text message purporting to be from HMRC, do not click on any links, delete the message, and if in doubt contact HMRC directly using information from the government website. Do not use the contact details provided in the email or text.