Not sure that this would be a case of success but it is interesting that HMRC seem to be pursuing Jonathan when if the posting is correct and Jonathan was not careless in any way then surely this is a fraud on HMRC and not a fraud BY Jonathan.
Surely Jonathan will have
(a) advised HMRC that they have been defrauded by an unknown party (at least unknown to Jonathan)
(b) asked for evidence from HMRC of the recipient of the alleged refund – bank and sort code and recipient’s name
(c) checked and provided his bank statement(s) to prove to HMRC that he was not the person making the claim
(d) reported the fraud to the police – although I do consider that the fraud has been on HMRC and not Jonathan – as there must be a case of stolen identity
(e) as soon as he became aware of the alleged fraud he changed his security details and generally did everything possible to protect himself -https://stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk/protect-yourself-from-fraud/
Willing to have a look at his paperwork given my background but I am not a VAT specialist and would need to verify that monies were in fact refunded (and therefore stolen).
If he wants to give me a call on 07751720507 I am willing to have a look at his paperwork but inevitably I will probably be a lot more searching than HMRC. Against my better judgement I would be prepared to do a no win no fee basis if TAN were prepared to do likewise but if I win Jonathan would pay me my hourly rate for the time involved