Warning from HMRC to be vigilant
Following reports by several ACCA members, HMRC has confirmed that it is aware of a spam email purporting to come from HMRC asking for AML supervision fees to be paid. It appears that the email has been received mainly by accountancy service providers under HMRC / Professional Body supervision.
HMRC has confirmed that any email communications to its supervised population will include the following lines:
‘HMRC will only ever email you about a tax rebate or ask for personal or payment information from an email address that ends in hmrc.gov.uk. Please report this email
Below is an example of the spam email:
Some firms have reported phishing emails trying to gather the 'AML reference number' and other key information to clone/spoof accounts for ACSP registration.
If you have already shared personal information
If you believe you’ve already shared personal information with a scammer, it’s important to take immediate action:
- report the disclosure to HMRC’s security team
- if you’ve suffered financial loss, report it to Action Fraud or Police Scotland by calling 101 (if you live in Scotland).
Below are some recent resources we have previously highlighted that will be helpful and should be cascaded through to all your team, if applicable.
