How to check a message from Revenue or the Department of Social Protection

How to check a message from Revenue or the Department of Social Protection

"Revenue: you are due a tax refund of €342.18. Confirm your bank details here." Or the opposite: "You have an outstanding tax bill. Pay immediately to avoid a criminal case." Public bodies make an excellent disguise for fraud: everyone knows them, nobody wants trouble with them, and their real procedures are confusing enough that a fake message seems plausible.

These campaigns come in waves and repeat the same skeleton as fake toll texts and the fake parcel text: well-known name + money pending (for you or against you) + urgency + link. Learn to check one and you can check them all.

The key rule: public bodies don't do business through links in texts

Remember two things:

1. Revenue is explicit: it says it will never contact you by email, text or phone call to tell you about a tax refund or a bill. Your real tax affairs are handled in myAccount (or ROS, if you're self-employed or run a business), which YOU log into with your own details. The Department of Social Protection's online services are on MyWelfare, which you log into with your MyGovID. Treat any text or email with a link asking for bank details, passwords or a payment in the name of either body as fake until you've checked it yourself.
2. A real refund doesn't need you to "confirm your details" from a link. Refunds are claimed and tracked inside myAccount or ROS, so there's no reason to hand your card details to anyone through a message.

Any message pushing you to tap a link to claim, pay or "settle" something with a public body is suspicious by default. Not because these bodies never get in touch, but because a link in a message is not how they do business.

What the fake message looks like

• The refund. The most effective hook: "you are due a tax refund", with a specific, believable amount. It takes you to a fake site imitating Revenue, where you enter your personal and bank details.
• The bill or the threat. "Final notice", "pay immediately to avoid a criminal case". It plays on fear instead of hope, but the destination is the same: your details and your card. Fake emails claiming you're "due an audit" follow the same pattern.
• The welfare payment or the update. Messages asking you to "update your details" or "confirm your payment" with MyWelfare through a link. Less urgent on the surface, equally fake.
• Lookalike domains. Links containing "revenue", "myaccount" or "mywelfare" plus hyphens and extra words, on domains that aren't the official ones. Don't try to judge the address in a message: start from revenue.ie or mywelfare.ie, typed in yourself, and log in from there.
• A sender that proves nothing. As with all texts: the sender can be faked and neither proves nor disproves anything.

How to check whether anything is real

The method is the usual one: close the message and go to the official channel yourself. With public bodies it's even clearer, because the official channels are unique and well known:

1. Don't tap the link. Close it.
2. Go to the official site yourself. Type the address into your browser (revenue.ie, mywelfare.ie). Don't arrive through the link in the message or a hurried search.
3. Log in and check. Use myAccount or ROS for Revenue, and your MyGovID for MyWelfare. If there's a refund, a bill, a review or a message for you, it will show up there. If nothing shows up, the message was fake.
4. If you're not comfortable online, ring the contact numbers listed on the official website (looked up by you, not taken from the message) or ask for an appointment in person.

If something real exists, you deal with it inside the official service. Never through a link in a message. It's exactly the same habit we recommend for checking a call or text from your bank.

What to do if you've already tapped or given details

• You only tapped and closed it: almost certainly nothing happened. Block, delete and move on.
• You entered card or bank details: ring your bank now, block the card and ask for a new one. Watch your transactions over the following weeks.
• You entered your Revenue login details: reset your password as soon as possible, as Revenue itself advises, and check for anything you don't recognise. If you gave away your MyGovID details, change that password too (typing mygovid.ie in yourself) and check MyWelfare for changes you didn't make.
• Report it to the Gardaí at your local Garda station with screenshots of the message and the link. Revenue's page on fraudulent emails, texts and phone calls explains what to watch out for.
• Report the sender's number in the spam numbers directory.

Quick questions

Does Revenue ever really send texts? Revenue is clear on the point that matters: it says it will never contact you by email, text or phone call to tell you about a tax refund or a bill. So a text announcing a refund or a debt is not from Revenue. For anything else, treat it as unverified and check in myAccount.

And the Department of Social Protection? The same logic applies: you can check your payments and claims in your MyWelfare account, which you reach by typing the address yourself and logging in with your MyGovID. A link in an unexpected message is not the way in, whatever logo it carries.

Are these messages more dangerous at certain times of year? Yes, because the context helps the scammer: around the self-assessment deadline in the autumn, and early in the year when many PAYE workers review their tax and claim refunds, a "refund due" or "tax bill" message fits right in. At those times, be doubly suspicious of any tax message with a link.

Is an email with the official logo more trustworthy than a text? No. A logo can be copied in a minute and email senders can be faked too. Apply the same rule: no links from messages; go to the official site yourself.

If you've received one of these messages, report it in the NoCall spam numbers directory: these campaigns change their disguise with the season, and your report helps the next person recognise the pattern in time.