Revenue says email offering tax refunds is a scam

The Revenue office has urged taxpayers to ignore a new phishing email which has appeared in recent days claiming to offer customers a large payment in the form of a tax refund.

The email, entitled “your refund is available” and signed “Revenue Team”, advises users to follow a hyperlink to claim more than €680 in tax refunds. This tax scam is just the latest in what has become a long line of fraudulent emails, calls and text messages in recent years purporting to come from banks, credit card companies and government departments which encourage people to hand over personal details in return for a cash payment.

The Revenue Commissioners office has confirmed that the email did not come from its account and that the senders are in no way connected to the Revenue security systems.

A spokeswoman said Revenue would never send emails requiring customers to send personal information via email, text message or pop-up windows. Anyone who receives an email which claims to come from Revenue and which looks suspicious should simply delete it, she said.