Students across the country are being alerted to a major email scam that tries to trick recipients into revealing their banking and personal details.
HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) have revealed that there have been thousands of cases across the country of university students receiving emails falsely claiming they are entitled to a tax refund.
The emails include links which recipients are invited to follow before they are asked to enter their banking and personal details.
The University of Liverpool is not on the list of institutions which have been contacted by HMRC warning that the problem is specifically affecting their students. However, all students are still being advised to be cautious and aware of the threat.
Phishing scams are a global problem, used by criminals to steal from people’s bank accounts and to sell on their personal information.
In this case, HMRC has pointed out that it would never make contact about a refund through an email, text or voicemail.
Phishing emails can be convincing. They may use branding and come from email addresses that look official. But if there are any signs that suggest something isn’t right, or your instinct is that it’s strange you’re being asked to take action in response to an unsolicited email, you shouldn’t click any links or provide any information.
Information about how to report phishing incidents to HMRC, and how to avoid them, is available on the Government website at: https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing.
There is also information about spam and phishing emails on the University’s Computing Services webpages.