Tax refunds.

Got a few surprise texts on my mobile while I was away…

A car refund of £61.77 from an overpayment and the best one was a tax refund of £265.84 from HMRC.

Very nice you might think, or not.

For starters, I knew they were both bogus as I wasn’t due a refund on either. Secondly, both the links were pointing to unsecure and invalid website addresses.

I also got, which is a very regular occurrence now, phone calls saying that I’d been involved in an accident. They don’t even get a chance to say the word ‘accident’ in full any more. I just put the phone down.

I tried to be polite with them in the past by asking where they got my details from, and they just hung up on me each time.

One thing these calls and texts have in common is that they’re trying it on. And it obviously works as they keep on doing it.

Regarding the texting, the people behind these rogue websites pray that you click on the link, so you can then enter your personal information for them to mis-use.

So here’s my top-tips in dealing with these kind of texts.
1) If it’s too good to be true, it more than likely is.
2) Reputable companies and organisations would never send you information like this by text.
3) Hold your finger down long enough on the link in the text and you’ll clearly see that the website isn’t correct.
4) And the most important point of all is to just delete the text.

And for the persistent telephone calls. Don’t waste your breath or energy. Just put the phone down.