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The Financial Ombudsman has reported a substantial increase in the number of complaints concerning authorised push payment scams. These are scams where a person is tricked into making a bank transfer into the account of someone posing as a genuine payee.
A worrying new development involves the use of taxpayers' Government Gateway credentials by companies offering to make tax relief claims on the taxpayers' behalf.
You need to be particularly careful when it comes to property transactions, because these are an obvious target given the high sums involved. It is always a good idea to make a small test transaction first.
Other push payment scams might induce you to set up a safe account because your bank account has been ‘compromised’; ask you to pay for goods and services that don’t exist (be particularly wary of adverts on fake, but legitimate looking, websites); or offer an investment opportunity that is too good to be true (the company name will often be similar to that of a genuine investment organisation).
Tax-related scams evolve. A worrying new development involves the use of taxpayers’ Government Gateway credentials by companies offering to make tax relief claims on the taxpayers’ behalf.
In one example, the refund company said they would claim employment expenses, but then used log-in details to obtain relief under the enterprise investment scheme (EIS). This generated a large tax refund from which the company took their commission. On discovery of the illegitimate EIS claim, HMRC demanded the full amount be repaid.
Legitimate tax advisers can file returns as your agent, so any request for your Government Gateway username and password should set alarm bells ringing.
