Scam a lot
The Government wants to reduce the amount of paper it processes by encouraging us to interact with it online. Unfortunately criminals are impersonating official Government e-mails in order to trick us into revealing personal details, or – worse – open up our computers to malicious viruses.
The latest scam e-mails appear to come from Companies House, and refer to 'company complaint submitted to Companies House web-filing service'. The e-mail looks genuine as it includes the correct customer support helpline number for Companies House and an official-looking reference number. There is a similar bogus e-mail announcing the issue of HMRC’s Employer Bulletin, and a different one that asks you to confirm your details to receive employer notices from HMRC.
All these fake e-mails have a zipped file attached, which contains a dangerous virus. Never open a zipped file which arrives from an unknown source. It could literally take over your computer and steal all your passwords.
If you are ever in doubt about an e-mail from an official source, go directly to the organisation to check, but DO NOT click on any links in the suspect e-mail. HMRC lists all the known fake HMRC e-mail addresses used by the scammers on its website. Alternatively, check with us for reassurance.