THE REVENUE COMMISSIONERS is warning people against providing their personal banking or financial information online after receiving unsolicited emails or text messages purporting to be from the Revenue.

One known scam is for texts or emails to direct people to fake websites replicating the layout and basic design of the Revenue site.

These scam sites then request personal details from users under the guise of asking them to sign in or log in with that information.

Here is how one such scam site looks in comparison to the real thing:

Scam sites scrape design details from real sites in an attempt to pass themselves off as authentic. Screengrab Screengrab

And the authentic Revenue.ie site:

Screengrab Screengrab

What should you do?

The Revenue Commissioners says that texts directing people to these fake websites are not generated by the real Revenue website and do not involve their systems and security: “Revenue never sends unsolicited text messages.”

The Revenue has a security advice section on its website which it updates regularly.

The tax service advises:

Anyone who receives an unsolicited text message purporting to be from Revenue and suspects it to be fraudulent or a scam should simply delete it. Anyone who is actually awaiting a tax refund should contact their local Revenue Office to check its status.Anyone who provided personal information in response to these fraudulent text messages should contact their bank or credit card company immediately.

If you receive an email or text message purporting to be from the Revenue and which you suspect to be a scam, you can report it to webmaster@revenue.ie.

Read: These cars were bought with fake bank drafts and sold on to unsuspecting buyers >