Every September, as a new wave of students starts university and begins take on part-time work for the first time, HMRC issues the same warning: students are disproportionately targeted by tax scams, and many don’t have the experience to recognise the warning signs.
The reasoning is straightforward. Most students have never interacted with HMRC before starting their first job, so they don’t know what genuine contact looks like — making it far easier for scammers impersonating the tax authority to catch them off guard. In a recent year, HMRC recorded almost a million reported scams, and 18-to-24-year-olds alone reported thousands of phone scams to HMRC within just a two-month window.
The most common tactic by far is the fake refund. Scammers know that many students genuinely are owed tax refunds — thanks to emergency tax codes and overpayments common in part-time work — so a text or email claiming “you’re due a refund, click here to claim it” feels entirely plausible. The catch: HMRC never offers refunds by text or email. Any message claiming otherwise is fraudulent, full stop.
The second major tactic works in the opposite direction: threatening messages claiming you owe unpaid tax and demanding immediate payment, often with threats of fines, legal action, or arrest if you don’t respond quickly. These messages rely on panic to short-circuit careful thinking — exactly the kind of pressure that catches out someone unfamiliar with how tax actually works.
Both types of scam typically arrive via text, email, or phone call, and often contain links or attachments. Clicking these can do more than just hand over personal information — some are designed to install malicious software that harvests your data or locks your device until you pay a ransom.
So how should students protect themselves? The core rule from HMRC’s own cybersecurity team is simple: be wary of any unsolicited contact asking for money or personal information, and never reply directly to a suspicious message. If you’re unsure whether a message is genuine, don’t use any contact details it provides — instead, go directly to gov.uk and search “HMRC scams” to check current guidance, or contact HMRC through their official channels.
It’s also worth remembering that legitimate tax refunds are usually issued automatically via a P800 calculation at the end of the tax year, deposited directly or by cheque — not something you need to “claim” urgently through a link. If you genuinely think you’re owed money, you can check through your personal HMRC account rather than acting on an unsolicited message.
With hundreds of thousands of students taking on part-time work each academic year, scammers know exactly who to target and when. A little scepticism toward unexpected tax-related messages — especially around the start of term — can save you from a costly mistake.
