Weymouth restaurateur's warning over email phishing scam (From Dorset Echo)

Weymouth restaurateur's warning over email phishing scam

11:30am Sunday 24th July 2011 in News By Martin Lea

A RESTAURATEUR from Weymouth is warning other business people about a scam which could clear out their bank accounts.

Lorraine D’Agostino smelt a rat when she received an email purporting to be from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) claiming she was owed money and instructing her to fill out her bank details.

She admitted she was taken in at first because the documentation looked so genuine and it originated from the email address ‘customs@hmrc.gov.uk’ A quick telephone call to HMRC confirmed the email was a fake – an example of ‘phishing’ where fraudsters attempt to acquire sensitive information electronically by posing as genuine companies.

Mrs D’Agostino, who runs the Riverhouse Inn at Upwey with husband Bob, said small businesses should be on their guard.

She said: “The email said I was due a tax refund of more than £270 and at first I thought it was legitimate because the form looked genuine. Also, the email address it originated from threw me because it appeared to be a government address.

“My suspicions were raised because as a larger business we have a tax accountant who deals with these things and he wouldn’t have got this wrong and we don’t submit our returns online anyway. So I re-read the email and, thinking it maybe a virus, I called Customs and Excise who confirmed it was a scam.”

Mrs D’Agostino added: “If I ran a small business and submitted my tax returns online I may have fallen for this and I’m concerned that other individuals may be targeted.”

46,000 attempts to defraud

HM REVENUE and Customs says there is a surge of fake ‘phishing’ emails sent out by fraudsters in the run-up to the tax credits renewal deadline.

The recipient is asked to provide credit or debit card details. Since the beginning of April more than 46,000 phishing emails have been reported by customers. During the same period, HMRC helped shut down more than 150 scam websites.

Joan Wood, director of HMRC online and digital, said: “We currently only ever contact customers who are due a tax refund in writing by post. We don’t use telephone calls, emails or external companies in these circumstances.”