More than 180,000 suspicious calls reported by taxpayers

HMRC is reminding self-assessment taxpayers who are starting to think about their annual tax returns for the 2021-22 tax year to guard against scammers. This is because fraudsters tend to target taxpayers when they know they are more likely to be in contact with HMRC.

In the 12 months to August 2022 HMRC has responded to 181 296 referrals of suspicious contact from the public. Some 80 662 of these offered bogus tax rebates. It has responded to 55 386 reports of phone scams in total and reported 10 565 malicious web pages for takedown. In addition HMRC has worked with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to remove 48 phone numbers being used to commit HMRC-related phone scams.

Anyone contacted by someone claiming to be from HMRC in a way that arouses suspicion should check the scams advice on GOV.UK. Taxpayers can forward suspicious texts claiming...