Thanks for that Diana...very interesting stuff there, people have to be very aware not only about having their vehicles stolen but also by potentials scammers with the handyvan situation
Speaking of spammers and scammers...Had this through from Her Majesty's Custom and Excise guys this morning. The latest re tax scams, might as well put it on this thread.
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HMRC issues phone call scam warning to Kent taxpayers
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is warning taxpayers in Kent to be vigilant following reports that thieves are making phone calls pretending to be the taxman.
The fraudsters inform taxpayers they are due a tax rebate, and ask for their bank card details over the phone. They then attempt to take money from the account using the details provided. Victims risk having their bank accounts emptied and their personal details sold on to other organised criminal gangs.
The warning comes amid a recent surge in the number of tax scam "phishing" emails reported to HMRC. In the last three months, HMRC has shut down over 180 websites that were responsible for sending out the fake tax rebate emails.
Chris Hopson, Director of Customer Contact at HMRC said:
"We only ever contact customers who are due a tax refund in writing by post. We never use telephone calls, emails or external companies in these circumstances. We strongly urge anyone receiving such a phone call not to give any information to the caller, but report it to the police straightaway.
"If customers receive an email claiming to be from HMRC, we recommend they send it to us for investigation before deleting it permanently."
HMRC thoroughly investigates phishing attacks and works with other law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas. In the last 18 months, scam networks have been shut down in a number of countries, including Austria, Mexico, the UK, South Korea, the USA, Thailand and Japan.
HMRC strongly advises customers to:
Check the advice published at
www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/index.htm to see if the email you have received is listed
Forward suspicious emails to HMRC at
phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it from your computer/mail account
Do not click on websites, links contained in suspicious emails or open attachments
Follow advice from
www.getsafeonline.co.uk
If you have reason to believe that you have been the victim of an email scam, report the matter to your bank/card issuer as soon as possible. If in doubt please check with HMRC at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm
Notes for editors
1. The scam email often begins with a sentence such as 'we have reviewed your tax return and our calculations of your last year's accounts show a tax refund of XXXX is due.'
2. The current increase in the number of scam emails reported to HMRC is partly due to people following HMRC advice and forwarding them to the department's online reporting facility.
3. In September 2009, a record 83,000 phishing attempts were reported to HMRC. The following month, an unprecedented 10,000 reports of phishing scams were made to HMRC on one day alone.
