Warning as scammers target Edinburgh businesses saying they qualify for tax refund

Edinburgh City Council have issued a warning as businesses in the Capital have been targeted by scammers regarding grants or tax refunds.

Edinburgh businesses are being targeted by hoax messages

In the tweet issued by the council, they said that their Trading Standards team had been receiving a number of complaints from businesses who had been told they qualified for a grant or tax refunds by phone, text and email.

The council have warned that anyone who receives one of the messages should not click on links and should never give out any financial information. They added that official websites would tell businesses if they qualify for wither of these.

Last week, Edinburgh residents were warned about hoax text messages being sent which say you may have been in contact with someone showing Covid-19 symptoms which had a link in an attempt to obtain identity and bank details.

The council has previously advised that people need to be alert more than ever to scams, which have increased worldwide as cybercriminals seek to profit from the pandemic.