Portchester pensioner loses £299 after falling foul of copycat HMRC tax return website

By the time the error was discovered the debit card payment had already gone through his bank to an imitation revenue account and they were unable to reclaim it.

The 74-year-old  former Portchester dental technician admits he’d only a modest acquaintance with IT, so didn’t think twice when he looked for the www.gateway.gov.uk website he’d used previously, and the misleading site popped up at the top of the Google web search.

Dennis explained: ‘I had a friend who used to be an accountant and he did the online tax return for us, but after he died two years ago I had to learn how to do it myself.

‘Somebody told me gateway was the site to go on to file my 2016/17 return so I went online and registered with gateway and paid. No problem, it was fine.

‘I wrote all our logon ID details down that that I knew that when I did it next time it would be okay.

‘My sister had told me registering with gateway was a lot easier this year.

‘When the official lookalike screen came up and I was prompted to enter my password and user ID, I just assumed as I’d previously registered with the taxman it had been made easier and thought no more of it. 

‘I didn’t have anything to declare because all I’ve got is a small pension which just takes me over the tax free limit.

‘I proceeded to fill in all the details that were required and having completed the return it said ‘submit’ which I did. I then received an acknowledgement for the £299, which I paid by debit card.

‘The following week HMRC emailed to say I owed them £163.30 so I contacted them to query the transaction of £299. They told me they hadn’t received any money and I still owed the tax due by the end of January.’

A confused and angry Dennis looked closely at the original acknowledgement he’d received for the £299 only to discover a ‘brought to you by Infinity Investing Ltd’ disclaimer hiding away at the top of the heading.

Dennis is one of thousands of people who’ve hit out at copycat websites fooling them into paying a fee to what they believe is a government department such as the DVLA, passport office, or the revenue.

They usually confirm in the small print they’re not official, but passing themselves off as look-alike government site will attract the attention of trading standards for a potential breach of consumer protection unfair trading regulations.

Following a plea from Dennis to warn other readers of his costly mistake and shyster websites looking like a dead ringer for government departments, Streetwise followed the very same www.gateway.gov.uk link he’d initially used to file his HMRC self-assessment.

The very first entry took us to the copycat site of Infinity Investing Ltd., and a search of the Companies House records confirmed it was private but unregulated investment firm set up in July 2016 currently based in a shared London office complex.

Its director, a Mr Darshan Gatecha was one of five original directors of the firm, four of whom had subsequently resigned. The one filed set of accounts revealed company assets of just £1,291.

We tried on numerous occasions to locate a telephone number for the business to speak to Mr Gatecha but couldn’t trace a directory entry, or email address.

The 0333 305 1533 contact number listed on the firm’s paperwork consistently claims the called number is engaged, and then reverts to an unobtainable error message.

Citizens’ Advice, the national reporting agent for trading standards, has previously raised concerns about imitation websites.

Speaking in 2014, chief executive Gillian Guy didn’t mince her words on the subject.

‘These businesses are nothing but opportunistic rip-offs,’ she said, ‘and serve little or no purpose for consumers.

‘People who are duped by these websites realise they’ve paid for something they can do for free elsewhere and have forked out extra costs on top of the standard charges.

‘These firms need to be upfront with people about the services they offer, including the costs they charge, and be clear they’re not the official website.’

Mike Andrews, head of the national trading standards eCrime team confirmed the service has been increasingly successful in cracking down on prolific copycat site rogues.

He said: “The National Trading Standards eCrime Team works tirelessly to protect consumers against the threat of copycat websites. In the last year we saw landmark convictions secured against those operating these websites, with over 38 years in prison sentences handed down in the conclusion of Operation Dougal, one of the biggest online conspiracy cases in UK history.

  ‘There are also steps consumers can take to protect themselves – for example:

If you are looking for government services online then go to Gov.uk and search there instead, it’s the best way to find what you are looking for

·               If you do use a search engine, look out for the differences between natural search results and paid-for search results

·               Watch out for tell-tale signs that a website may not be legitimate, such as spelling mistakes, a lack of contact details or prices that are simply too good to be true.

·               If you notice anything suspicious online, or to report a misleading or copycat website, you can call the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06.’

With the benefit of hindsight a chastened Dennis said he should have realised that when he first registered with the revenue he’d been sent a text message to confirm his identity.

It was only when he finally located the correct website and was sent the identity code he understood where he’d gone wrong.

He added: ‘I just felt so aggrieved that I’ve been charged almost twice what I owed the taxman for a service that in effect did nothing. I’m just happy that other people will be warned about these websites.’