Tax Refund email from Revenue - Legit or not?

the_barfly1 · 30-01-2016 4:33pm #1

Howdy.

I received an email from Revenue.ie this morning informing me of a tax refund, with an attached .pdf outlining a figure (in £), with a link that leads me to a site http://www.uded-are.com which contains a form asking for name, email, address, bank details etc (including verified by visa password!!!!)

Alarm bells ringing everywhere here for me.

The fact that the email address used to contact me is service1@revenue.ie is throwing me though.

Anybody else get anything similar? Scam or no?

Screenshots below.

All links on uded-are site which shows form lead back to revenue.ie. I've blocked the full url just in case, by some show of stupidity, that this is actually correct and linked to my ROS account.
(ROS just happens to be unavailable today too)

revenuemail.jpg

revenue1.jpg

revenue2.jpg

gerrybbadd · 30-01-2016 4:36pm

Scam

http://www.revenue.ie/en/spotlights/email-scam.html

annapr · 30-01-2016 4:37pm

Complete scam. I get them regularly.

Do not ever under any circumstances give any personal details. And don't click into any link in an email like that.

If you think you're due a refund, call the revenue.

the_barfly1 · 30-01-2016 4:38pm

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Scam

http://www.revenue.ie/en/spotlights/email-scam.html

Sound, thought as much, should have seen the fecking warning when I checked their site, was too busy looking for a Sky News style banner!

the_barfly1 · 30-01-2016 4:42pm

How do they spoof Revenues domain for the email addy?

ponzook · 30-01-2016 4:46pm

Never give out any information through email to companies full stop. Do no click on links in emails as most are scam sites and look like a proper site.,
No company should ask you to forward on details through email after emailing you.
If in doubt go onto real site or give the company a call

the_barfly1 · 30-01-2016 4:54pm

ponzook wrote: »

Never give out any information through email to companies full stop. Do no click on links in emails as most are scam sites and look like a proper site.,
No company should ask you to forward on details through email after emailing you.
If in doubt go onto real site or give the company a call

In fairness, clicking on the links does no harm as long as you don't hand over your details.

This actually is a pretty good looking Phishing Scam, and timed at the right time of the year for people to expect tax refunds!

RossieMan · 30-01-2016 4:56pm

It's not good looking, you'd have to be a complete idiot to put your details into that.

the_barfly1 · 30-01-2016 5:01pm

RossieMan wrote: »

It's not good looking, you'd have to be a complete idiot to put your details into that.

I must be an idiot, it almost had me fooled (asides from the weird url and looking for bank details).

I could see plenty of people falling for it! Even comes up as an "Important Message" in gmail

RossieMan · 30-01-2016 5:03pm

If you check the email they send it from its not from a revenue email address. These do get people every day, there's idiots all over the place. Worst thing is they generally get all their money back and aren't any worse off for their own stupidity.

the_barfly1 · 30-01-2016 5:04pm

RossieMan wrote: »

If you check the email they send it from its not from a revenue email address. These do get people every day, there's idiots all over the place. Worst thing is they generally get all their money back and aren't any worse off for their own stupidity.

The email is sent from a revenue.ie address

L1011 · 31-01-2016 7:36pm

the_barfly1 wrote: »

How do they spoof Revenues domain for the email addy?

You can specify whatever From: address you want. I could send you an email that shows president@gov.us; doesn't mean I've used Barack's computer.

Revenue never contact you in this manner.

tricky D · 31-01-2016 7:45pm

the_barfly1 wrote: »

How do they spoof Revenues domain for the email addy?

Spoofing is very easy if a bit of know-how and the right tools. I do it sometimes for sending email shots out on behalf of clients which is a totally legit practice.

the_barfly1 wrote: »

In fairness, clicking on the links does no harm as long as you don't hand over your details.

Not correct. The link could be to a webpage with a drive-by malware payload.

the_barfly1 wrote: »

The email is sent from a revenue.ie address

Nope. All the relevant fields (from, reply-to) can be forged/spoofed. The clue is in the headers. One of the Received-from lines will have the server the email was actually sent from.

screamer · 31-01-2016 8:57pm

Revenue giving you money back pro actively.... ha ha don't think so. Sure there's a whole industry setup to help people claim back their tax rebates such is the lack of pro activity from revenue.....

.G. · 31-01-2016 9:11pm

And even they prey on the stupid or lazy. A very simple request for a p21 via the paye anytime service will sort you out with any refund you may be due. Of course if you've underpaid, they'll be looking for it from you.

relax carry on · 31-01-2016 9:39pm

screamer wrote: »

Revenue giving you money back pro actively.... ha ha don't think so. Sure there's a whole industry setup to help people claim back their tax rebates such is the lack of pro activity from revenue.....

It's up to each individual themselves to initiate any refund claim themselves. One glaringly obvious reason for that is Revenue does not know that the information they have on file for you, is all your sources of your income until you legally declare it by either filing a tax return or requesting a review of a particular tax year, (P21). How much fun would it be if you got a lovely refund from Revenue only to discover a little while later that you owe them the money plus more back because of some income belonging to you which somehow didn't get declared.

Revenue have over the last 15 years or so advertised how to claim additional tax reliefs/credits in various ways. Seriously what do people want? Do you want Revenue staff to call round to you, make you a cup of tea and talk very slowly to you so as not to confuse you? You really need to make some sort of effort yourself to at least understand the basics of the paye system.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/personal/end-year-reviews.html

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/credits/index.html

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/index.html

the_barfly1 · 01-02-2016 5:34pm

Ye're all great craic. Don't ever change.

SIX PACK · 04-02-2016 8:21pm

Dear Customer,After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity , we determined that youare aligible to receive a tax refund of 372.29 EURO.Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 10-14 days in order to process it.To access your tax refund, please follow the steps bellow: - Download the Tax Refund attached to this email - Open it in a browser - Follow the instructions on your screen NOTE: A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons , for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.

Just got that Spam/ Phising Email.

Tax Refund email from Revenue - Legit or not?

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