It has become very common to receive a text or email relating to postage to be paid in order to receive your parcel and more recently, a telephone call allegedly from HMRC fraud squad, requesting you to contact them otherwise you will be arrested and charged with fraud.
As always, please do not reply to these or give any personal information.
The latest scam involves the 4th self-assessment income support scheme grant that is now open for claims.
It comes at a time that many are desperate to claim and may mistake the fake HMRC email as a genuine communication from HMRC.
What should you be looking out for?
The email has an official looking Gov.uk logo, typeface and format with a subject line ‘HMRC SEISS Tax refund Notification’. It states that the grant is now open for application from 22nd April 2021 and directs the recipient to a sign in link to ‘HMRC online services.’
The tell-tale signs are:
- The window to claim the grant has widely been reported as open ‘late April, whereas this email will state open from 22nd April
- The grant is referenced as a tax refund. SEISS is not a tax refund.
- The email contains grammatical mistakes – “For security reason we will record (IP Address, Time and Date) Deliberate Wrong input or flooding will be criminally pursued” (Sic).
Those that have received these emails have advised others to be wary of emails from support@access.service.gov.uk
If you receive an email and are unsure if it is a HMRC phishing scam, do not click on any links. To make a claim, log onto your Gov. pathway portal as before to see if eligible and / or to check for messages.
Many could fall foul to this scam as HMRC have sent emails, messages and letters to those that maybe entitled to the 4th grant.
4th grant
The 4th grant is now open for taxpayers to claim covering the period 1st February 2021 to 30th April 2021 and taxpayers have until 1st June 2021 to make their claim.
The government have confirmed there will be a 5th grant available, covering the period May 2021 to July 2021, expected to be claimed from late July 2021.
For more information regarding the grant, please refer directly to Gov.uk website –
