HMRC has lost £47m in breach of 100,000 taxpayer accounts
HMRC has lost £47m after a phishing scam breached tens of thousands of tax accounts, a group of MPs has heard.
Two senior civil servants at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) told the Treasury Committee that 100,000 people have been contacted, or are in the process of being contacted, after their accounts were locked down in what they said was an “organised crime” incident which began last year.
Will Richmond-Coggan, partner specialising in data and cyber disputes at Freeths LLP, commented: “While HMRC were at pains to stress that their own systems had not been compromised in a cyber attack, this incident nonetheless underscores how widespread the consequences of cyber incidents can be. It is clear from HMRC’s explanation that the crime against HMRC was only possible because of earlier data breaches and cyber attacks. Those earlier attacks put personal data in the hands of the criminals which enabled them to impersonate tax payers and apply successfully to claim back tax.”