The University is aware that a fraudulent tax email has recently been received by a number of students at a number of UK universities – including Sussex.

The message is originating from seemingly legitimate university email addresses, such as @uc.ac.uk, to avoid detection, which has made it all the more convincing to the recipient.

In most cases the email tells the recipient about a tax refund. Often, these messages spoofed the branding of Gov.UK and well-known credit cards in an attempt to look authentic.

However, the message is not genuine and links to a website designed to trick you into giving up your bank details.

Students are advised to contact the Student Life Centre for further advice and support. They are also advising all students to contact their banks urgently if any bank details have been inputted.

Emails like this are becoming common at UK universities and although IT Services has in place systems to block unwanted and fraudulent messages, it's not possible to catch all of them. If you've received this email, you should ignore or delete it, or contact IT Services if you have any further questions.