UK Tax Phishing Scam: £47M Stolen
- HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the UK's tax authority, revealed Wednesday that organized criminals stole £47 million last year through a sophisticated phishing attack.
- The agency said the criminals attempted to claim money from HMRC by gaining unauthorized access to customer accounts.
- John-Paul Marks, HMRC’s chief executive, who took office in April, stated the incident occurred in December.He assured the committee that affected taxpayers do not need to take action...
organized criminals executed a devastating phishing attack, pilfering £47 million from the UK’s tax authority, HMRC. The sophisticated cyberattack, which served as the primarykeyword, targeted approximately 100,000 taxpayer accounts. Astonishingly, there were no financial losses for individual taxpayers, according to HMRC. The criminals impersonated taxpayers to extract funds. A criminal investigation is underway, and arrests have already been made in connection to the breach, as reported by News Directory 3. HMRC is improving cyber resilience. John-Paul Marks, HMRC’s chief executive, emphasizes the agency’s control over the situation. The aim was to use stolen data to create pay-as-you-earn accounts or access existing accounts to claim repayments, and this incident represents the agency’s biggest secondarykeyword challenge. Discover what’s next as HMRC tackles the situation.
HMRC Targeted in Phishing Attack, £47 Million Stolen
Updated june 4, 2025
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the UK’s tax authority, revealed Wednesday that organized criminals stole £47 million last year through a sophisticated phishing attack. The cyberattack targeted the online accounts of approximately 100,000 taxpayers.
The agency said the criminals attempted to claim money from HMRC by gaining unauthorized access to customer accounts. Angela MacDonald, HMRC deputy chief executive, told a House of Commons committee that the criminals impersonated taxpayers to extract funds.
John-Paul Marks, HMRC’s chief executive, who took office in April, stated the incident occurred in December.He assured the committee that affected taxpayers do not need to take action and the situation is under control. Marks emphasized that individuals experienced no financial losses.
“This was organised-crime phishing for identity data out of HMRC systems,” Marks said.He explained the criminals aimed to use stolen data to create pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) accounts or access existing ones to claim repayments.
HMRC’s fraud investigation service detected the attack, leading to a criminal investigation and arrests last year, according to Marks. The agency has locked down affected accounts and corrected inaccurate tax records.
MacDonald acknowledged the £47 million loss was unacceptable. However,she noted that HMRC prevented £1.9 billion in fraudulent attacks during the last tax year. She added that cleaning up compromised accounts and verifying customer identities posed a important challenge.
Separately, HMRC experienced phone line outages Wednesday due to a system issue unrelated to the phishing incident.
What’s next
Marks outlined his priorities for HMRC,including closing the tax gap by £7.5 billion annually, improving customer service, modernizing systems for better cyber resilience, and boosting public trust.