Britons living in the UAE are being targeted by conmen who are trying to get bank account information from unsuspecting residents, embassy officials said.
Diplomats have warned British citizens in the UAE not to pass on their bank details in response to scam letters sent to them.
The letters - which have been received by Britons in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi - pretend to be from the Inland Revenue, the UK tax collection department.
They refer to the Not Ordinarily Resident status of the individual and also talk about interest on bank and building society accounts being paid tax-free.
The letters tell recipients to complete and return a form, P86(1991), which asks for bank account details.
Vicky Lee-Gorton, second secretary for political and media affairs at the British Embassy in Dubai, said both her embassy and the one in Abu Dhabi had been contacted by citizens who are concerned the letters might be fakes.
"We looked into it and we realised it was a scam and this was unfortunately just people fraudulently trying to obtain bank account details. If anyone gets a letter from the Inland Revenue, they should check that they are genuine," she said.
The scam letters claim to come from the Inland Revenue Central Tax Unit, a department that in reality does not exist.
Anyone receiving a letter should contact their Inland Revenue office in the United Kingdom to ensure it is genuine, she said.
"If the letter asks for bank details, it's clearly part of the scam and people should just ignore it. If they have details of your bank account name and number, then it's very easy to fraudulently access your account," she said.
Anyone concerned about the letters can contact the Inland Revenue www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk. The British missions have posted a warning about the fake Inland Revenue letters at www.fco.gov.uk.
The scam is the latest in a line of fake e-mails sent to UAE residents. In separate scams people in the UAE have been asked for money to claim lottery prizes or release packages held at ports.
No delays in issuing travel documents
British Embassy officials have said there are no longer any delays in issuing passports now that IT glitches have been ironed out.
Vicky Lee-Gorton from the British Embassy in Dubai said in recent weeks a computer problem in London caused delays in processing passport applications at the embassies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
"We aim to issue passports within five working days and as far as I am aware there weren't any significant delays and anyone whose application was taking more than five days was contacted by our officials," she said.
Lee-Gorton said during the time when there was a problem priority was given to those who were about to travel. She said passport issuing was now back to normal and any backlog in applications was no more than usual.
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