Criminal gang steals 47 million pounds from the UK tax office

Organised criminals stole 47 million pounds (63.76 million dollars, 55.8 million euros) from the UK tax office last year, using phishing techniques to access more than 100 000 customer accounts and falsely claim payments from the government, according to Reuters.
A statement published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on the government’s website on Wednesday said that no customers had suffered financial loss.
Speaking in parliament, Angela McDonald, deputy chief executive of HMRC, said fraudsters had defrauded three payments totalling 47 million pounds by posing as customers.
Chief Executive John-Paul Marks told a planned review of the tax authority’s work that police carried out a criminal investigation last year which led to a number of arrests.
“This was organised crime activity aimed at obtaining identity data from outside HMRC systems … and then use that data to set up PAYE accounts to pay themselves rewards and/or access an existing account,” Marks said.
PAYE, or “Pay As You Earn”, is a system whereby an employer deducts tax and other payments from wages and sends them to HMRC each time a salary is paid.
HMRC said it had sent letters to affected customers, blocked their accounts, deleted login details and removed all incorrect information from tax records. Taxpayers do not need to take action, the authority added.
“This was an attempt to claim money from HMRC, not an attempt to scam money from you,” the tax authority said in a statement.
In a separate statement obtained by Reuters, HMRC said the incident was not a cyber attack.
“It involved criminals using personal information obtained through phishing or other means to try to extort money from HMRC,” the statement said.
“We are writing to customers affected by this incident to reassure them that their accounts are safe and that they have not lost any money.”
Last week, UK banks and payment companies were urged to strengthen their systems to prevent international payment fraud because of a rise in fraudsters tricking people into sending money abroad.