Fraudsters posing as HMRC are taking two approaches to “manipulate” people in a recent scam to steal money from victims following the self-assessment tax return deadline month. Financial Times journalist and host of the podcast, Money Clinic, Claer Barrett warned viewers of ITV’s Lorraine show what to watch out for.
In light of the self-assessment tax return deadline on January 31, millions have been scrambling to submit taxes owed to HMRC.
Criminals have been cashing in on these tax returns, and “a lot of people have been falling for it”, according to Lorraine.
Ms Barrett said: “This is what scammers do. They pick something that’s on our minds in the news already.”
Ms Barrett then went on to explain the “nasty” and “nicer” approaches the scammers have been taking to trick people into either handing over their bank details or taking payment.
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She said: “People are getting really realistic sounding phone calls, text messages, emails, featuring the HMRC logo saying, either nasty ones like ‘you owe tax, you haven’t paid, give us the money, we’re going to fine you’, which will scare them into making a payment to criminals posing as the tax authority.
“Or in some cases, nicer ones, saying ‘you’re owed a tax rebate, give us your details and we’ll pay it back in’ – so two different approaches they’re using to manipulate us.”
However, Ms Barrett noted: “The key to avoiding…
