HMRC warn of COVID-19 scam text messages
Cyber criminals are continuing to exploit COVID-19 concerns – this time with scam text messages about a non-existent government grant.
The message offers the prospect of financial support as the UK moves into another lockdown, but no such grant exists and HMRC has warned people to be vigilant to this threat.
The phishing scam takes the victim to a fake website masquerading as GOV.UK which asks for financial information. A number of spelling and grammatical mistakes in the message give a clue that it is a scam.
It’s important to know that HMRC will never offer a tax refund by text, email or phone. HMRC have issued some advice for those concerned about this particular scam.
275 HMRC-related scams have been uncovered since March with HMRC taking action against 254 scam webpages. They have also responded to more than 300,000 reports of phone scams from the public.
Duncan is a technology professional with over 20 years experience of working in various IT roles. He has a interest in cyber security, and has a wide range of other skills in radio, electronics and telecommunications.