Business Owners Targeted by HMRC #COVID19 Tax Relief Scam

UK business owners have been targeted by a new phishing scam that attempts to gain sensitive information, including payment details, by impersonating Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), according to an investigation by accountancy firm Lanop Outsourcing.

In emails purporting to be from the HMRC, recipients are told that their VAT deferral application has been rejected. This follows an initiative by the UK government to allow businesses to defer VAT payments between March and June 2020 until March 31, 2021 in order help struggling companies during the COVID-19 lockdown. At least 100 business owners have so far reported receiving this scam.

The message, which uses official HMRC branding and graphics, begins by saying “Dear customers, Your request for a deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus (COVID-19) has been rejected… Summary of reject justification: the claimant is in arrears.”

A false document is also attached which the email claims there are “more details and a full report on your application.” It also shares a one-use password to open the document and suggests the original application has been reshared.

The victim is then redirected to a false website and asked to enter sensitive information such as email, passwords and payment details, which are then harvested by the hacker.

This is the latest in a number of phishing scams associated with financial relief measures introduced by the UK government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Others have included an attempt to steal personal and financial details of self-employed workers using the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the harvesting of data of UK workers ..

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