Money alert: Think before you click - these links are jinxed

Are you owed tax from Germany? A convincing-looking email doing the rounds suggests you are – but it's a scam.

The dodgy message hopes to persuade unsuspecting recipients that they're owed money by the German authorities.

To claim you're supposed to click on a link – but do so and you'll be playing into the hands of fraudsters who'll try and harvest your financial details and then clear your bank account.

It's just the latest in a long line of scams aimed at cheating you out of cash. The most famous is the so-called advance fee fraud, when crooks pretend you've won a foreign lottery or can share in a fortune – but only by paying money upfront to unlock the prize.

In fact London's Old Bailey heard a case this week of a swindler based in north London who tricked pensioners out of their life savings with such a scam.

A simple rule to avoid falling prey to an online crook is not to click on links in emails. If you have been a victim of a financial scam, report it to ActionFraud on 0300 123 2040.