Image may contain: Female, Text, Laptop, Advertisement, Flyer, Paper, Poster, Brochure, Pc, Electronics, Computer, Human, Person

Spam email sent to multiple Cam students

it’s dodgy, but obviously fake

| UPDATED

An email with the subject "University of Cambridge – Valuation Office Agency – Annual refund – 18/2019" followed by the recipient's university email has been sent to multiple Cambridge students today, with some students receiving multiple emails containing the same content but from different senders.

Image may contain: Word, Page, Text

Cheers Jeff, clearly working at the HMRC Help Center with your outlook.com email

The email states that the sender is trying to refund "outstanding tax returns" of £550.44 and includes a reference number, security number ID, merchant's cart ID, HM Revenue transaction ID and an employer Reference in an attempt to look legitimate.

Image may contain: Face, Page, Text

sending me an employer reference as if my DOS would ever let me have a stable part-time job

The email links to a website, hyperlinked as "http://user-hmrc-data-gov-uk.astepofclass.com". However, when the link is followed it directs to a website with the address "http://danangluxury.com" and through the link "href.li" onto the "www.gov.uk/help/terms-conditions" website.

Href.li is a known browser hijacking link, that can result in persistent pop-ups and intrusive adverts when using your browser, such as Chrome or Safari.

However, any success in getting financial details out of students is potentially limited by the redirect link resulting in the terms and conditions page of the gov.uk website, where information cannot be entered.

Image may contain: Webpage, Word, Text, File

The government's T&C page is very exciting!!!

If you received this email, you are advised to forward it to [email protected] so that they can try to shut down the scam.

TL;DR a weird email was sent to some students and you definitely shouldn't click the link.

Hate to break it to you, you're not getting £550.44 :((((((((((((((