Fraudsters target tax credit website

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has suspended its online system for claiming tax credits as a result of serious fraud.

Identities of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff were stolen to make fraudulent claims on the website.

In a message on its website, HMRC states: "[We] take fraud very seriously and as part of ongoing compliance work, we have identified and stopped attempts to defraud the tax credit system by making claims through the tax credits e-portal."

"In the light of this, HMRC has closed the tax credits e-portal while it develops new checks to ensure that the system remains secure."

DWP and HMRC said they are carrying out an "in-depth investigation" into how this happened and "are also working quickly to identify the records concerned and to ensure they are corrected".

All other HMRC online services remain unaffected.