The Revenue has issued a warning about an email scam targeting taxpayers with the fraudulent offer of a tax refund.

A statement from the Revenue said they had become aware of the issue this week. The scam involves: "fraudulent emails purporting to come from Revenue seeking personal information from taxpayers in connection with a tax refund or seeking credit/debit card details."

"These emails did not issue from Revenue."

While the emails ask for personal information the Revenue has said they will "never send emails requiring customers to send personal information via email or pop-up windows."

"Anyone who receives an email purporting to be from Revenue and suspects it to be fraudulent or a scam should simply delete it," the statement added.

The Revenue Commissioners advise anyone who gets an email purporting to be from them, and asking for personal information, to simply delete it.

The email will possibly have a .gov address, as well as being attributed to "Revenue - Irish Tax".

"Anyone who provided personal information in response to these fraudulent emails should contact their bank or credit card company immediately," they said.

Phishing emails attempt to extract personal information - including bank details etc - from people by imitating an official body, such as the Revenue or a bank.