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Don't get caught
on the net by tax rebate phishing scam
TAXPAYER reported almost
80,000 tax rebate phishing emails last year (2012), HM Revenue and
Customs (HMRC) have revealed, as they warn people not to fall victim
to the email scams sent by fraudsters. The emails promise a tax
refund in exchange for personal, credit card or banking details.
However, people who respond risk opening their account to fraud and
having details sold on to organised criminal gangs. Emails often
link to a clone of HMRC's genuine website to trick unsuspecting
taxpayers into handing over their details, but HMRC never sends
emails about a genuine tax rebate. HMRC took action to close down
522 illegal sites in 2012, which showed these emails originated from
a number of countries including the United States of America, Russia
and Japan, as well as central and eastern Europe. Gareth Lloyd, Head
of Digital Security for HMRC said:- "HMRC does not email
customers about tax refunds; we only ever contact customers who are
genuinely due tax back in writing, by post. If anyone receives an
email offering a tax rebate and claiming to be from HMRC, please
send it to
phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before
deleting it permanently. HMRC does everything it can to ensure
customers are safe online and we are working closely with other law
enforcement agencies to target the criminals behind this serious
crime."
To help customers stay safe online, HMRC strongly advises customers
to:-
► Check the advice published on the HMRC
website, where they can see if
the email received is listed.
► Forward suspicious emails to HMRC at:-
phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it
from your computer / mail account.
► Do not click on websites or links contained in suspicious emails
or open attachments.
► Follow advice from:-
getsafeonline.co.uk.
► Anyone who has answered one of these emails should forward the
email and disclosed details to:-
security.custcon@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.
If you have reason to believe that you have been the victim of an
email scam, report the matter to your bank/card issuer as soon as
possible. If in doubt please check with HMRC at:-
hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm.
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Federation of
Small Businesses Spots Employment in Merseyside is behind North West
MERSEYSIDE'S jobs market is
lagging behind the North West and UK averages, according to the
latest official figures, despite an upturn in employment across the
country. The Federation is responding to the figures, published this
week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), by calling for
measures to stimulate growth and job creation among small businesses
in Merseyside.
According to the statistics, which cover the 3 month period
from October 2012 to December 2012, the national employment rate for
those aged from 16 to 64 was 71.5%, up 0.3% points on July 2012 to
September 2012 and up 1.1 on a year earlier. There were 29.73
million people in employment aged 16 and over, an increase of
154,000 on July 2012 to September 2012 and up 584,000 compared to a
year earlier. The unemployment rate was 7.8% of the
economically active population, down 0.1% points on July to
September 2012 and down 0.6 on a year earlier. There were 2.50
million unemployed people, down 14,000 on July to September 2012 and
down 156,000 on a year earlier. However, according to the
ONS's latest data for
Merseyside, which covers the period October 2011 to September 2012,
just 64.7% of the county's economically active population are in
employment compared to 68.5% in the North West as a whole and 70.5%
across the UK. Unemployment in Merseyside stands at 9.9%,
compared to 8.8% in the North West and 7.9% across the UK. While the
national picture shows that self employment has increased, partly as
a result of the rise in redundancies over the past few years, just
6.6% of Merseyside's economically active population are self
employed. In the North West as a whole this figure is 8.4% and
across the UK it is 9.6%. John Allan, Chairman of
FSB Merseyside, West Cheshire
and Wigan, said:- "It's time for a radical re-think of how we
achieve small business growth and, by extension, real job creation
in Merseyside. Otherwise we will be left further behind. With a
month to go before the Budget, small businesses and entrepreneurs in
Merseyside are still facing extremely tough conditions in the real
economy. Rather than piecemeal measures they need a clear action
plan to incentivise growth and start-ups, one that gives them access
to the funding they need and removes the barriers created by tax
much more substantially than present proposals. To stimulate
employment specifically, we need to ease the fear of recruitment, by
encouraging more workplace disputes to be settled by mediation,
leaving flexible working and shared parental leave arrangements to
employers and their staff, rather than creating even more red tape
by legislating, and, with inflation and overheads still very high,
refraining from replacing the National minimum Wage with the Living
Wage. Extending the scope of the existing National Insurance holiday
so more firms can benefit from it would also help."
According to today's national ONS figures youth unemployment; those
aged between 16 and 24; was 974,000, or 20.8%. That is up from
957,000, or 20.5%, in the 3 months to November. |
