Scams come in all shapes and sizes, depending on what is in the news and the time of year. But one scam type that never seems to go away is fraudsters who pretend to be from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Because most people have some contact with the tax office from time to time, conmen have latched on to this and are targeting people with increasingly sophisticated messages that claim to be from HMRC but are in reality a mechanism to steal either your identity or you money.
Tax refund experts RIFT Tax Refunds have estimated that the average victim of fraud will be hit to the tune of £600, but Which? calculates that the emotional and psychological damage would have a monetary value of £9.3 billion a year. This equates to £2,509 per victim.
