HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has advised that students and staff may have been targeted by scammers with fake tax refunds in an effort to steal money and personal details.

The scammers are using seemingly legitimate university email addresses (for example ‘@uc.ac.uk’) in order to avoid detection.

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.?Forward suspicious emails to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and texts to 60599.

HMRC phishing advice:

• Recognise the signs – genuine organisations like banks and?HMRC?will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, password or bank details.
• Stay safe – do not give out private information, reply to text messages, download attachments or click on links in emails you weren’t expecting.
• If you suffer financial loss, contact Action Fraud on Tel. +44 (0)300 123 2040 or use its?online fraud reporting tool.
• Check GOV.UK for information on?how to avoid and report scams?and?recognise genuine?HMRC?contact.