HMRC phish: refund1-hmrc.com, refund2-hmrc.com, refund3-hmrc.com and refund4-hmrc.com

Here's a bunch of web sites and domains being used to peddle fake HMRC (UK tax office) refunds:

www.refund1-hmrc.com
www.refund2-hmrc.com
www.refund3-hmrc.com
www.refund4-hmrc.com
www.handler123.com

The fake emails look something like this:

From: HM Revenue & Customs Billing Department [mailto:hmrc@refund1-hmrc.com]
Sent: 22 August 2011 09:36
To: [redacted]
Subject: Billing Notifcation


Refund Notification


This e-mail has been sent to you by HM Revenue & Customs to inform you that we must pay you back 478 GBP.
Please complete all the information to process your refund

Please allow 2 weeks for you money to be availabe in your account. (eg: address, phone)
Total refund amount: 478 GBP

To ensure that your service is not interrupted, we request you to confirm and update your information today by following the link below:

Refund Notification


Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Do not reply to this e-mail.
Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

Member [redacted]

© HM Revenue & Customs 2011 

The emails actually come from  refund1-hmrc.com, refund2-hmrc.com, refund3-hmrc.com and refund4-hmrc.com so

If you click through the link then you get a pretty standard phishing page trying to get credit card details, personal information and passwords.

The HMRC don't send tax refund messages by email, so any such notification should be considered bogus.

The phishing sites are hosted on 211.154.91.246 in China, blocking that IP would be a good idea, but you could go further and block 211.154.64.0/19 as it looks like a cable modem range and there shouldn't really be any legitimate sites hosted here.

Domain registration details are clearly fake:


Domain Name.......... refund1-hmrc.com
  Creation Date........ 2011-08-22
  Registration Date.... 2011-08-22
  Expiry Date.......... 2012-08-22
  Organisation Name.... scotia bank
  Organisation Address. hah
  Organisation Address.
  Organisation Address. there
  Organisation Address. 123131
  Organisation Address. AL
  Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... scotia bank
  Admin Address........ hah
  Admin Address........
  Admin Address........ there
  Admin Address........ 123131
  Admin Address........ AL
  Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
  Admin Email.......... bbuubbh2@yahoo.com
  Admin Phone.......... +1.1233213121
  Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ scotia bank
  Tech Address......... hah
  Tech Address.........
  Tech Address......... there
  Tech Address......... 123131
  Tech Address......... AL
  Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
  Tech Email........... bbuubbh2@yahoo.com
  Tech Phone........... +1.1233213121
  Tech Fax.............
  Name Server.......... ns1.refund1-hmrc.com
  Name Server.......... ns2.refund1-hmrc.com


The nameservers are hosted on 200.29.238.90 in Colombia (CONSULNETWORK LTDA).