Romanian police arrest 13 scammers targeting UK’s tax authority

Thirteen people have been arrested in Romania and one in the U.K. in connection with a large-scale tax fraud operation that exploited stolen personal data to falsely claim millions of pounds, according to Britain’s tax authority.

The suspects — aged between 23 and 53 — were detained following coordinated raids across Romania last week by more than 100 local police officers, said the agency, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), in a press release. A 38-year-old man was separately arrested in Preston, northern England, in a linked probe.

Authorities allege the individuals were part of an organized criminal gang that used phishing attacks to harvest personal data from U.K. taxpayers. The stolen information was then allegedly used to fraudulently claim Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax rebates, VAT repayments and child benefit payments.

Law enforcement seized luxury vehicles, jewelry and large sums of cash during the arrests. Video footage released by Romanian authorities showed armed officers storming a large house and confiscating evidence.

According to HMRC, two other men, aged 27 and 36, were arrested in Bucharest last November as part of a related investigation.

Earlier this month, HMRC revealed that fraudsters had siphoned £47 million ($63 million) in tax refunds in 2023 using data stolen from British taxpayers. Officials said the agency successfully blocked an additional £1.9 billion ($2.6 billion) in attempted fraud.

HMRC has denied that the incident was a cyberattack, adding that the criminals used personal information obtained elsewhere — such as through phishing campaigns or third-party data breaches — to exploit the agency’s services.

The agency said it had contacted approximately 100,000 people, or around 0.22% of its customers, to notify them of suspicious attempts to access their online tax accounts. HMRC added that there had been no financial loss to affected individuals and that their accounts were now secured.

Phishing scams involving the Revenue and Customs agency are common. According to the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre, HMRC was the country's third most commonly spoofed government institution in 2022, after the National Health Service (NHS) and TV Licensing.

In a separate case last week, U.K. law enforcement arrested four individuals on suspicion of involvement in a range of ransomware attacks targeting the British retail sector earlier this year. The authorities said the individuals are suspected of blackmail, money laundering and participating in the activities of an organized crime group.