Officials are warning people to remain vigilant after they recieved more than 400 reports about fake tax refund emails.

Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, recieved 442 reports in two weeks about fake emails purporting to be from HMRC.

The emails state that the recipient is owed a tax refund (rebate) and the links provided in the emails lead to genuine looking phishing websites.

These sites are designed to steal personal and financial information.

A spokesperson for Action Fraud saud: "Criminals target the public with fake HMRC tax refund emails.

"HMRC will never send notifications of a tax rebate or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email."

If you have recieved a suspicious email claiming to be from HMRC, forward it to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk