Beware: French tax reimbursement email is a phishing scam

An email promising recipients a €490 tax refund is a scam intended to steal victims' bank details.

Criminals are once again using tax declaration season to target innocent victims with a so-called 'phishing' scam, prompting officials to issue a reminder that they never ask for personal or banking details via email.

If you receive an email with the subject line ne_pas_repondre@dgfipfinances.gouv.fr delete it straight away.

According to the email, which looks at first glance like an official message from the Direction générale des finances publiques (DGFIP), the money due could not be reimbursed because of different postcode details linked to the recipients' bank account.

To correct the problem, the victim is asked to click on a link and correct their bank details using an 'electronic reimbursement form'.

The tax office will not ask for bank details in this way.

The link is to a fake website designed to look like the real thing - but the URL of the fake site is a suspicious string of letters, and does not end with the regular government tax site's usual address code: impots.gouv.fr