Beware 'HMRC' phone scams - surge in calls telling victims they owe taxman £1,000s - MSE News

Uxb1

The FCA has been running adverts on the DAB station "Smooth" which mainly play oldies about scams for some time now.
The ad' gives two plausible sales pitches about an investment opportunity and asks the listener to choose between the two
In some ad's the correct one is given as the first and in other versions its given at the second.
The point is then made by the ad that you cannot tell which is the scam and tells you to always check independently.

Catchthescammers

HMRC scam call 28th November 2019 this is ongoing, anyone near the address in london they gave can see if they spot anyone trying to collect the cash

They are expecting a cash delivery to an address before 1pm tomorrow, please read on.

Please investigate and stop this scam

The caller said they were from the HMRC and I had an arrest warrant out for my arrest for tax avoidance, all untrue of course.

The first person said the following as I wrote it all down and played along to get as much information as possible. I gave them a fake name and date of birth, they said get a pen and paper as this was serious

Caller: My name is Officer Mike Joseph

Police ID number RC 07853

Case reference number CL909572CA41

Arrest Warrant number SL7483A9B

He said, HMRC were recording the call and it could be used against me in a court of law.

Satellites were tracking me and I had to comply.

He said I owed £2500 for tax from 1968 - 2017

He referenced what he said was Chapter 13 and various verses and said I was in violation of the government law.

If I did not pay within 1 week the debt would be £96000

and then I would get a Prison sentence of 10 years and 22 days

Do I want to go to court or settle out of court?

I said settle out of court, after further animated conversation from the person he passed me to his manager

Next person said they were called Richard Morgan

He gave me rules to follow - he called them rules and proceeded with Rule 1 , 2 etc

Rule 1 Cannot disconnect the call
Rule 2 Cannot pay by card or bank transfer - cash only
Rule 3 Cannot disclose this to anyone

He asked if I had cash in the house and if not then pressured how long would it take to get to the bank.

He said he would give me an hour to get to the bank and get the cash and will call back with an address to send the money too.

I could only use royal mail and I would need to give them a tracking number. He would not give me the address there and then as he said he had to find the right person for my claim.

He did call back while I was meant to be at the bank and my husband replied that I had gone to the bank and he did not know what it was about.

So when the call came back in from so called Richard Morgan after I was back he gave me the following name and address

William Bernard
12 Kingsbridge Road
Southall
London
UB2 5RT

He gave me instructions

Put cash in an envelope
Then put the envelope of cash in a padded envelope that I could buy at the post office

Do not tell the post office there was cash in the envelope, tell them documents only.

Use 1pm Next day delivery only and get a tracking number

Carry the receipt safely home.

He said how quickly could I get to the post office so I said 20 minutes and he said he would call back for the receipt.

In the meantime the phone did not stop ringing from an automatic call system and then hanging up.

So finally the man called back to which I said I was forgetful and had forgotten to use tracked 1pm, he got worried and said I must have some sort of tracking. I said no I am sorry I do not have tracking I just put it in the letterbox, 1st class delivery so it should be there tomorrow.

His reaction - he shouted "oh my god" shocked I had apparently posted £2500 1st class without any tracking, he said my case will be sent to the court as I had not followed rules and then hung up.

I have no doubt calls will come in the next day or so. I have passed this to the police in the hope they can monitor the address as clearly someone either lives there, or they intercept the postman or get the mail out the post box or they work for the Royal mail.

I am not a sucker and I try to get information to stop them doing this to vulnerable people and the elderly. It's disgusting and they are very high pressure that I feel some would fall for it.

Some of the phone numbers that come up when I do 1471


0161 431 9262
0161 249 7360
0161 286 1404
0161 450 4115
0161 657 5105

This is just some as the calls just keep coming.

They either have access to the address given, intercept the postman or work at the royal mail or how would they get the money?

What do you all think?

Chino

Catchthescammers wrote: »

What do you all think?

That you've got far too much time on your hands.

jonesMUFCforever

Chino wrote: »

That you've got far too much time on your hands.

I disagree - I think this is an excellent way of using these forums by telling us what happens when you are reeled in with these scams.
When it is written down you think how the hell could anybody fall for this?.....but on the phone the conversation can be frightening especially to older people - thanks OP

sofkhat57

These scams are still active. Just received one. Told It was a call from HMRC and that I was victim of tax fraud and must press 1 immediately. Figured it was not for real so hung up. The number is new though. 

They are now cloning a Bradford number. Please add to the list. 

01274 649684

Thx

oldagetraveller1

I had one some weeks ago (to mobile phone) and they used a Derby (01332) number. Couldn't be bothered selecting 1 for a bit of baiting!

born_again

Kazwaz_2 said:

I've have witnessed first hand vulnerable, elderly being taken in by this and other scams. I wouldn't be so quick to judge.
The suffering it causes is huge and diminishes confidence.
Make people aware but don't judge please

Sadly these are well published on a regular basis. But many either never see/read or take notice.
To many old people are far too trusting and believe what they are told on a phone call.
Asked to get i-tunes vouchers to pay a tax bill.....That should get alarm bells ringing with anyone.

colsten

They can use / spoof any old phone number. There is little point in tracking these numbers as they are completely transient.

The only thing people need to remember is that HMRC will never call you out of the blue to demand you pay overdue tax immediately or be jailed.

harsh_but_fair

I don't know why in this day and age number spoofing is even possible

surely it is not beyond the bounds of human endeavour to ensure that the number displayed on your phone is actually the real number being called from

FoodWineLover

I just received an Automated phone call from 02076557930 at 1:20pm on Wednesday 13/1/21.  I was told that HMRC is filing a lawsuit against you, and to press one to speak to a caseworker to make a payment.

I did not take it seriously, as I know I have done nothing wrong.  I became annoyed when it went on to threaten me with arrest if I hung up.  So, I hung up.

What is suspicious about this is that is comes just a few days after I applied on-line for my state pension.  Is it possible that these on-line applications are being hacked?