Refunds that want your card details
Last reviewed:
A message from the tax office, a council or an energy company says you're owed money: a tax refund, an overpayment, a rebate. To receive it you just need to fill in a form with your card details. The form sends your details to the scammer. In the UK the message usually pretends to be HMRC; elsewhere it uses your own country's tax office.
What it looks like
Town Hall: You are due a tax refund of £326.40. To receive it, complete your claim before 23:59 today: townhall-payments.test/refund
A made-up example. Every name, number and link here is fictional.
The tell
A tax refund never needs your card number. Tax offices pay refunds through your official tax account, or by post.
Other signs
- A refund you weren't expecting, often an exact-looking amount.
- A link to a form, rather than “sign in to your official account”.
- It asks for your card number, expiry date and security code. Nobody needs those to send you money.
- A deadline: “today”, “within 24 hours”.
What to do
- Don't use the link. Sign in to your official tax account yourself (in the UK, through GOV.UK) and check there.
- In the UK, forward suspicious HMRC emails to [email protected] and texts to 60599.
- If you entered your card details, call your bank now.
If you already replied, tapped or paid
- Call your bank straight away, on the number on your card (or 159 in the UK). Banks can sometimes stop or recover a payment if they hear quickly.
- Change any password you typed in, on the real site, and turn on two-step sign-in.
- Report it (below), and keep the messages and receipts.
- Be careful of anyone who then offers to get your money back for a fee. That is a second scam.
- Don't feel ashamed. Scams are written by professionals and fool careful people every day.
Report it
- In the UK: forward scam texts free to 7726, and scam emails to [email protected].
- Report fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040 (in Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101).
- Elsewhere: your country's police or consumer protection service.
Sources
The advice here follows these official UK pages:
- GOV.UK: Report suspicious HMRC emails, texts and calls
- GOV.UK: Report suspicious emails, websites and texts
- Report Fraud (police)
Practise spotting it
In Scam Town you get letters, texts and calls like these, decide which are real, and see the tell after every answer. You can also build scams yourself from ready-made pieces, which is the fastest way to learn how they work. It's free and plays in your browser.
Play Scam Town