Phishing fraudsters are targeting UK taxpayers in the latest attempt to dupe the gullible into handing over sensitive financial details.

The bogus emails promised prospective marks a fictitious tax refund of £70. The attack represents part of the ongoing trend for fraudsters to extend to scope of targets for fraud beyond traditional targets such as eBay, PayPal and Bank of America.

As Reg reader Peter points out the attack represents on of the first attacks on targeting UK government targets, an incident that ought to provoke better reporting mechanisms. "I went to the HMRC site and there's nowhere to report such matters, which I kind of expected," he said. ®

• HMRC data debacle used to bait phishing lure (22 February 2008)
• Don't get infected on Valentine's Day (14 February 2007)
• HMRC guides UK eBay traders on income tax (9 February 2007)
• Customs arrests 10 alleged VAT-fraudsters (6 February 2007)
• Dishonest data protection notices could earn jail time (18 January 2007)
• Record sentence for VAT fraudster (9 January 2007)
• Google blacklist sheds light on phishing tactics (5 January 2007)
• Phishing fraudsters get flashy (5 January 2007)
• HSBC's anti-phishing dept takes 44-year holiday (19 December 2006)
• Phishing scams thrive in the UK (14 December 2006)
• Prison terms for phishing fraudsters (14 November 2006)
• eBay redirection ruse reloaded (13 November 2006)