A number of us here received an email which appeared to be from HMRC announcing a new Employers Bulletin. We are all aware of the usual phishing emails but this one was different. It was not an unexpected announcement and could very easily have fooled some. The zip file attached raised our suspicions and so before anyone opened it, we very quickly let our staff know of the danger and forwarded the email to HMRC for review.

A day later, HMRC announced and confirmed this email as a phishing scam.

The wording is as follows:

From: HMRC Employer Alerts [mailto:employers@alerts.hmrc.gov.uk]
Sent: 17 December 2013 14:13
To: Caroline Meredith
Subject: HMRC: Important Information for Employers

Employer Bulletin Issue 45 out now

The latest version of the Employer Bulletin issue 45 has just been published.
This edition contains the latest information about filing your PAYE information in real time.

To find out more open the attached document(s)

Your next employer email alert is scheduled for February 2014
*** Please do not respond to this email
If you have any concerns regarding the validity of this or any emails received from HMRC go to our Online Security pages for more information by using the web address below [excluded].

The zip files attached should always be enough to raise suspicion as in this case. Don't get caught out.

The genuine Employer Bulletin was issued in September and does not contain a zip file. HMRC will update the HMRC Genuine Contacts page when the next genuine Employer Bulletin is due to be published in February 2014.

Always either check with us or the HMRC website if you are unsure.