HM Revenues & Customs has warned of a phishing scam requesting bank and card details of small business owners and the self employed.

The email message, sent from addresses such as [email protected] and [email protected], is being sent as the 31 January deadline approaches for tax self-assessment forms.

Lesley Strathie, chief executive at HMRC, told Metro newspaper: “We only ever contact customers who are due a refund in writing by post. We never use emails, telephone calls or external companies in these circumstances.”