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The Information Commissioner’s Office say that the voice data collected unlawfully by HMRC should be deleted.

The information Commissioner’s Office started investigating HMRC back in June 2018, after learning the government body had been illegally storing the biometric voice ID’s of more than 5 million people.

Watchdog Group ‘Big Brother Watch’ (BBW) lodged an official complaint with the ICO. The advocacy organisation said that the collection of Voice ID’s was not being done with explicit consumer consent, and information on how individuals can easily and securely have their voiceprint deleted is not publicly accessible. BBW says this is a direct … Read more

Fraudsters are targeting elderly, vulnerable and young people who may have less experience of the tax system. During April and May, fraudsters target taxpayers with refund scams, by pretending to be from HMRC, either by email or text. This coincides with genuine tax rebates at this time of year, made by HMRC and makes the con seem more legitimate as people may be expecting to hear from the tax service.

They ask recipients to provide bank details through a fake government website which harvests private information and is used to steal money from peoples bank accounts. To lure them in … Read more

Over the past 12 months, HMRC has requested the takedown of more than 20,000 corrupt websites. HM Revenue and Customs claims to have saved the public over £2.4 million, by shutting down websites and fraudsters who run them. Most people with a mobile phone have probably received a text purporting to be from HMRC which looked authentic. The public have been made aware that these texts are fraudulent, by the government, who stated that they would never contact an individual by text, despite this being the way in which many people have been scammed.

Fraudsters alleging to be from HMRC … Read more

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating HMRC to establish whether or not the government tax body has been illegally recording and storing more than 5 Million Biometric Voice ID’s.

Watchdog Group ‘Big Brother Watch’ (BBW) lodged an official complaint with the ICO. The advocacy organisation said that the collection of Voice ID’s is not being done with explicit consumer consent, and information on how individuals can easily and securely have their voiceprint deleted is not publicly accessible. BBW says this is a direct violation of the recently implemented GDPR.

A ‘Freedom of Information’ (FOI) request by BBW revealed HMRC … Read more