The Department of Foreign Affairs today issued a warning relating to a fraudulent email that claims to come from the Revenue Commissioners and seeks personal information.
The phishing email is headed “You are eligible to receive a tax refund!” and links to a convincing reproduction of the www.revenue.ie website. The email asks the recipient to enter personal details, including passport information.
This email is not issued by the Revenue Commissioners nor Department of Foreign Affairs. The department noted it never sends emails that require customers to send passport numbers or passport expiry dates via email or pop-up windows.
“We have no reports of anyone being caught, but we just wanted to send this out as a precautionary measure,” a department spokeswoman said.
Anyone who provided passport information after being sent such emails is advised to contact the Passport Service at 01 671 1633 or LoCall 1890 426 888.
Tax rebate "phishing" attacks appear to have been copied from similar scams in the United Kingdom. Many financial fraud techniques start out in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe and after a few months make their way to Ireland
It is not the first time Revenue has been targeted in such scams. There have been incidents in which individuals and businesses receive bogus phone calls from people purporting to be Revenue officials requesting personal information, such as PPS numbers, addresses and details of earnings, and in some cases demanding payments of tax.
The Revenue advises anyone who receives suspicious calls or e-mails to contact their local tax office and, if they fall victim to this type of scam, to contact the Garda immediately.
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