The Government is warning about a spate of scam emails promising residents hundreds of pounds in tax rebates.

The messages, often targeted at the elderly, appear to offer repayments by Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officials.

Derek Hennessy received the convincing-looking message from someone claiming to be David Craig from the Revenue and Customs tax credit office telling him he was due for a £327 repayment.

But the 80-year-old, of Hove Park Way, Hove, smelt a rat and called the department’s customer care line where he was told it was a scam known as a phishing email.

Mr Hennessy said he was worried the scammers would target elderly people presuming they were “less clued up”.

He added: “It’s something people really need to be told about otherwise they might fall for it.”

The body of the email claimed he was eligible for a tax refund and asked him to complete the attached form which meant supplying his full card details, including the security code and his mother's maiden name – the information required to withdraw cash at a bank without a card.

The form is a convincing look-a-like of a genuine Revenue and Customs rebate form and even includes a link to the government agency's website.

A Revenue and Customers spokeswoman said: “There are several sophisticated phishing scams that HMRC has encountered recently.

“It is possible they are on the increase and the simple message is that we never contact a customer by email, telephone or external companies – we only ever contact people by post.

“We strongly encourage anyone receiving such an email to send it to us for investigation. You can check scams that are already known to us at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm .”

She also asked for anyone receiving an email appearing to originate from the department to not click on the attachments and forward it unopened to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.