A Freedom of Information request by Griffin Law found out of the 292 sites removed since March, 237 had been identified and requested for removal by HMRC, with the remaining 55 flagged by members of the public.
HMRC also disclosed it had identified 62 phishing scams related to Covid-19 since March 23, the majority in the form of text message scams.
HMRC is quoted by the FT:
“Through our guidance on gov.uk and other communications to customers, we advise anyone who has disclosed personal or financial information to report it directly to Action Fraud.
“As we have cracked down on email and SMS phishing scams, criminals have increasingly turned to the traditional method of cold-calling publicly available phone numbers to steal money from taxpayers.
“These typically take the form of an automated voice call claiming to represent HMRC and threatening legal action unless payment is made immediately. The calls spoof a valid HMRC telephone number in the caller ID field and provide a return number for victims to call to make a payment.”
Last month (April 21), it was revealed fraudsters were exploiting the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) with a phishing email scam pretending to be from HMRC in order to steal personal information.
Tax does have to be taxing.
Tax Investigation Insurance
Having a Solar Protect Tax Investigation Insurance policy at your disposal means that should you be one of the many 1000's of businesses or individuals that are selected by HMRC each year to look into your tax affairs your own accountant (your tax return agent) can get on and defend you robustly.
You have the peace of mind knowing that your accountant's (your tax return agent) fees will be paid by the insurance without any Excess for you to find.
Tax Investigation Insurance is an insurance policy that will fully reimburse your accountants (your tax return agent) fees up to £100,000 if you are subject to enquiry by or dispute with HMRC.
A Solar Protect policy will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to:
- Deal with any correspondence from HMRC
- Attend any meeting with HMRC
- Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal
- Having the security of knowing that fees will be met in full will enable your Accountant (your tax return agent) to defend your position robustly
- Premiums are Annual Premiums.
- Premiums are inclusive of 12% IPT.
- Premiums and IPT are due in full in advance / at commencement of scheme.
- There is a NIL excess on all policies.
Please click here for details.
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