More than 170,000 scam incidents were reported to HMRC in the 12 months to 31 July 2025, and 28% of these reports involved fake tax refund claims, with 47,000 of these scams alone.

However, one chink of light in the latest figures was that some of the comms and messaging about HMRC scammers may be working as the total number of referrals to HMRC was down 12% on the previous year.