Small businesses in Hampshire are being targeted with a highly convincing bogus HMRC compliance letter.

The tricksters have been forced to alter the incorrect email address on correspondence following a public warning from UK leading accountancy firm, Azets.

The alarm was raised by Sajid Ghufoor, who heads Azets’ tax investigations and dispute resolution service, in August.

The schemers, attempting to stay a step ahead, have modified the misleading email address on the same letter from companies-review@hmrc-taxchecks.org to audit@hmrc-revenuecheck.com.

Mr Ghufoor, who operates from Azets’ London office, is advising finance handlers to always validate the email address on letters since genuine ones end with hmrc.gov.uk.

Reports have stated that the counterfeit compliance letter mirrors the technical language and font of legitimate HMRC correspondence, making it easily confused as authentic.

Mr Ghufoor said: “If there is no hmrc.gov.uk ending, you are a target of sophisticated scammers. These compliance letters, with near-future deadline dates, are meant to panic businesses into providing financial information which can be used for identity theft to set up loans or clear out bank accounts.

"This is probably the best scam letter I have seen up until now. They have sought to use an HMRC team and use the right technical legislation and language – previously others have used non-UK tax legislation.

"The highly realistic letter is headlined ‘we need to verify your financial information’ and asks for business bank statements from the past 13 months, most recent full version of filed accounts, business VAT returns for the last four quarters and photos of directors, from passports or driving licences.

"If you provide the fraudsters with these details, there is a strong chance of identity theft taking place of both the company and directors in order to clear out bank accounts and open up the opportunity for VAT fraud.

"Mimicking government messaging, these letters from criminals have the look and tone of authenticity, with ‘Indv and Small Business Compliance’ on the top right."

Azets is cautioning small business owners and their staff to remain cautious, as these deceptive letters may reach them via both post and email.

Government figures indicate that the UK has nearly 1.2 million businesses with one to nine employees, giving scammers a wide pool of potential victims.

Firms with ten to 49 staff members are also at risk, with nearly 223,000 such businesses operating nationwide.