Telephone call from Inland revenue- is it a scam?

gingerstar61

Hello, I had a telephone call from a private number this morning, from someone claiming to be from the Inland revenue student loans department.

He asked me to confirm my date of birth (which I did) then my national insurance number (which I declined) and then my address (I only gave him the first line)

He then went on to say I hadn't ticked the right box on my self assesment form, that he would tick it for me and that this was a courtesy call to inform me that I would be credited with some money, and that they would send me a letter to confirm this.

He didn't ask for any bank account details and did know the name of my employer.

Is this usual or is it a scam? I hope it's not, but I guess you never know these days. Has anyone else had something similar?

omen666

SOunds like a scam to me. Never heard of such a dept before personally

tigtag02

Sounds like a tracing company to me - do you owe money to anyone?

tt

boliston

I would never even ANSWER a phone call from an unrecognised caller let alone give out private info like DOB.

mum2one

boliston wrote: »

I would never even ANSWER a phone call from an unrecognised caller let alone give out private info like DOB.

I fully appriciate where ur coming from, but not everyone has caller display, and in all honeslty without thinking we'd give some details out without thinking,

OP, I do think it was a scam, or someone tracing info,

If it happens again, just say your really sorry your just in the middle of changing dirty nappy, can u take a name and number + ur ring them back. There go one of two ways, either hang up and ur never hear from them again or give u the details u want in the hope that ur ring them back,

When u get 2 mins ring the telephone you have from your documents, ask the relevant dept if its a scam, ur have peace of mind and at least u can pass the name and number on.

We all hindsight is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately itdoesn't work like that. x

Oldernotwiser

boliston wrote: »

I would never even ANSWER a phone call from an unrecognised caller let alone give out private info like DOB.

Certainly the SLC itself telephones you and expects you to identify yourself with DOB etc before the person will speak to you. and, as HMRC is responsible for collecting repayments of Student Loans, it may very well have a separate department for this.

It might not be a scam.

seven-day-weekend

boliston wrote: »

I would never even ANSWER a phone call from an unrecognised caller let alone give out private info like DOB.

How do you know it isn't a long lost friend, or even a current friend or member of your family who has changed their phone number?

I am now back in touch with someone I lost track of nearly thirty years ago because she took the trouble to ring me and I could be bothered to answer.

Anyway, to the OP, why don't you ring the HMRC back to confirm whether it was them or not?

Edinburghlass_2

More than likely a scam, if you are due money back then HMRC will write to you with the SA form and ask you to tick the box yourself. I've been phoned recently once a week by someone allegedly from HMRC asking me to phone urgently with my NI number, googled the number they gave and loads of people have received similar scam calls.

bestpud

I don't usually answer calls when they are from private callers either, but on the very rare occassion I do, there is no way they'd get any information from me.

I wouldn't !!!!! foot about with lame excuses either - I'd just tell them straight I'm suspicious and will check this out before I hand over any money, so goodbye for now!

People usually leave a message if they really want to talk to you in my experience so I don't worry about missing anything important.

I'm amazed people still give information so freely tbh. :eek:

gingerstar61

Thanks everyone, no letter came today so I definitely think it's worth checking out, so I'll call them myself tomorrow and ask.

It caught me totally off guard as I was at work anyway, so didn't think to write down the callers name.

I guess there's no harm being too careful.

Thanks again, fingers crossed it was a genuine call!

bestpud

gingerstar61 wrote: »

Thanks everyone, no letter came today so I definitely think it's worth checking out, so I'll call them myself tomorrow and ask.

It caught me totally off guard as I was at work anyway, so didn't think to write down the callers name.

I guess there's no harm being too careful.

Thanks again, fingers crossed it was a genuine call!

Did they call your mobile and have you given them that number?