Fake emails from tax man

A friend in Berrylands has forwarded this email from his Safer Neighbourhood Team. We have drawn attention to this scam before, but the scammers never give up!

Dear NHW member

We were recently contacted by a resident who had received a suspicious e-mail claiming to be from HM Revenue & Customs (customers@hmrc.gov.uk)
“Dear Applicant:

Following an upgrade of our computer systems and review of our records we have investigated your payments and latest tax returns over the last seven years our calculations show you have made over payments of ?256.99.
Due to the high volume of refunds due you must complete the on line application, the telephone help line is unable to assist with this application.
In order to process your refund you willl need to complete the attached application form.
Your refund may take up to 3 weeks to process please make sure you complete the form correctly.
As we are upgrading our records we require the completed form showing your full current details by 20 August 2010.

Please submit the form attached to confirm the refund.

S.M. Roberts
Senior Manager
HM Revenue & Customs”

Upon taking a look at the HM Revenue & customs website, we found the following paragraph under the heading “scams”.

”We are aware of a scam that involves an email with a fake HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) heading. The email asks customers to provide banking details so that a repayment can be issued. HMRC will never contact by email for this type of information, but you may be confused if you have recently submitted a repayment claim. This type of email scam is known as a ‘phishing’ exercise and it should always be ignored and deleted “.