Scammers stole €55.8 million from UK tax office in phishing attack

Published on 05/06/2025 - 17:51 GMT+2

An organised crime pack posing arsenic taxpayers stole £47m (€55.8m) from Britain's taxation office, aft accessing much than 100,000 customer accounts, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has admitted.

HMRC published specifications astir nan phishing scam, which occurred past year, connected nan UK government's website connected Wednesday.

The UK's taxation authority said it will constitute to affected customers, but stressed that they person not mislaid immoderate money.

"This was an effort to declare money from HMRC, not an effort to return immoderate money from you," HMRC said.

After accessing nan accounts, nan scammers managed to fraudulently declare payments from nan government.

"It is improbable that your relationship will person been affected. But you tin cheque your caller relationship activity," HMRC told customers.

In nan meantime, UK citizens are urged to enactment vigilant for phishing attempts, specified arsenic suspicious emails aliases texts claiming to beryllium from HMRC, arsenic these could beryllium linked to akin scams.

Scam kept quiet

Angela MacDonald, HMRC's lawman main executive, told MPs astatine an Treasury Select Committee connected Wednesday that a "lot of money" had been taken, calling nan business "very unacceptable".

She noted that HMRC had not been hacked, arsenic it did not person information extracted from its systems.

A criminal investigation has already taken place, including successful "jurisdictions extracurricular nan UK”, starring to immoderate arrests, HMRC confirmed.

MPs reprimanded HMRC's representatives for not penning to nan committee astir nan fraud erstwhile it occurred past year.

Committee Chair Dame Meg Hillier said she and her colleagues only heard astir nan scam erstwhile it was reported successful nan news.

The standard of nan breach has raised questions astir nan information of individual accusation astatine a clip erstwhile scammers are becoming much innovative successful their methods.

MacDonald insisted that nan agency’s broader efforts prevented £1.9 cardinal (€2.25 billion) from being taken successful akin attacks past year.

"We are surviving successful a situation wherever each azygous organisation was facing immoderate benignant of cyber threat," she said.

The lawman main executive added that "it is simply a continuing portion of activity for america to put successful our systems...to effort to outpace nan criminals".