Organized Crime has extracted £ 47 million from the Uk Government in a Phishing Operation, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Officials Opericials Said WednsDay.The Operation, Whoch Place Place Last Year, Involved MIMICKING TAXPAYER CREDENTIALS and Claiming Payments from HMRC, Angela Macdonald, Second Permanent Secretary and Deputy Chief Executive, Told Parliament ‘TREASURY Committee. The incident wasn’t a cyberattack and no data from taxpayers was taken, she said.
“That is a lot of money and is very unacceptable,” macdonald said.
The Treasury Committee Learned of the Incident during a hearing, after Asking the HMRC Officials About A Statement Released Earlier in the day that said that said the tax authority Had shut down “Unauthorized access.”
HMRC is Trying to Contact 100,000 people who have been affected, John-Paul Marks, HMRC first secretary and Chief Executive, Told the Committee. Authorities began a criminal investment that included Going Outside the UK after HMRC detected the operation in 2024, and arrests has been made been made, He said.
“This incident is constrained, it is under control,” He said.
The affected accounts are pay-raou-earn, or paye, accounts, used by employees to hold Employee Tax and National Insurance Payments, Marks Said. The entities behind the operation created new paye accounts and accessed existing ons to get a repayment from hmrc, he said.
Banks have also also been affected by the operation to use HMRC’s Identity Information, Marks Said.
Customers Initially Contacted HMRC after Noticing anomals in their accounts, marks said. The tax authority has shut down fake accounts and removed False information as part of its response, He said.
The £ 47 million was taken through three separate payments, Macdonald Said. HMRC was able to protect £ 1.9 million that was sought by the entities behind the operation, she said.
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