According to Chris Boyd, a security researcher with Sunbelt Software, scammers have been quick to jump on the payout bandwagon, with a typical email that is being generated saying that taxpayers are asked to complete online application to receive a refund of more than £300.00

"Your refund may take up to 6 weeks to process please make sure you complete the form correctly. In order to process your refund you will need to complete the attached application form", says the spam email.

The spammed email, says Boyd, routes to an apparently hacked website that has since been pulled, but he adds that "you can guarantee a lot more will be springing up."

The website, he goes on to say in his security blog, "asks for a comprehensive chunk of information including full name, address, DOB, phone number and mother's maiden name" and even prefills a 'tax file number' which pops on to users' screens.

"It seems we can expect the usual deluge of spam mail with infectious attachments so be careful what you're opening", he says, adding that the UK tax office does not send out random emails asking for personal information such as the above.

"Tax refund scam mails have been popular for a long time, but in the current climate of 'our tax office has screwed up in spectacular fashion' it seems phishers will be giving it some serious attention", he said.