People trying to take your money is nothing new, my reference to the modern world was more to do with the methods employed. In my example I did not google tax refund or visit 3rd party sites. I presume someone within HMRC is passing on info. The methods these companies use may be just about legal, but the intention is to deceive.
I once started a job with a supposed independent financial advice website, naively I thought I would be part of a team offering helpful advice, but the whole company existed purely as a data gathering service. The job was to obtain as much detail as possible about people responding to the website then it was sold to very specific companies at a premium price. I left in my first week as it may have been legal, but the whole business was built upon deception.
Even if you are careful about sharing your personal information, it is very difficult to avoid being targeted these days. If you have the ability to spot that the deliberately official looking form is actually from a company looking for a share of YOUR cash, then it's just a nuisance. Many people, for a number of reasons, don't spot it and pay unnecessary fees. It is at best immoral, but I think it should be treated as deception and the perpetrators punished as such.
On a lighter note, I lost my temper when I received a call at a very inconvenient time about a vehicle accident I have never had, and I gave the guy in what sounded like an Indian call centre a right mouthful. I was a bit over the top but he really did call at the wrong time. Ten minutes later he called back to point out that he was sure my mother had not brought me up to use language like that!