HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned of a high number of reports of fraudsters targeting students with fake tax refund emails.
According to the Revenue’s notice, fake emails – known as phishing emails – are being sent to students in their thousands, attempting to capture unwitting individuals’ private information.
The report says the emails will often appear to be sent from an official university email account – usually ending in ‘.ac.uk’ – telling students that they are “owed money” and should “send personal details” to claim a refund, often through a fraudulent website.
Commenting on the recent wave of scams, Mel Stride, the financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “HMRC will never inform you about tax refunds by email, text or voicemail.
“If you receive one of these messages, it is a scam. Do not click on any links in these messages, and forward them to HMRC’s phishing email address.”
HMRC added that it is doing everything it can to help reduce the number of fraudulent websites pretending to be official organisations, including requesting that 7,500 phishing websites be deactivated between April and September 2018.
As part of its warning, the tax office has issued a list of tips to help taxpayers avoid becoming a victim of fraud. These include:

• Recognising the signs of fraud – most genuine organisations will never contact you “out of the blue” and will never ask you to hand over personal information, such as passwords and bank details.
• Be suspicious of unwarranted communications – do not open email attachments or click on suspicious links.
• Take action – forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and texts to 60599.
• Seek help – if you feel that you may have been a victim of fraud, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use its online fraud reporting tool