HMRC Self employed covid grany

GinaS79

Hi my partner has applied for the final support grant for the self employed. However during the process he noticed that his application had been frauded and the bank details were for someone in Leister and the bank was also not outs but Barclays.
After seeing this error my partner tried in vain to contact the HMRC to inform them that it wasn't him. After several attempts to contact them via different methods we are still no closer to getting the grant. We have now been alerted by our broadband service that we now have a £1000 phone bill!!!! 
Virgin have been amazing but it would seem the numbers attached to the HMRC and DVLA are 090.. numbers and charge £3.60 a minute. So my partner would be left on hold for 25 mins and cut off. In panic he then recalls and so on...
How is this ethical or fair?
Currently we are only just making ends meet on my part time wage as a Teaching Assistant. 
I now have to pay £192 pm back to Virgin to cover the debt.
All we are guilty of is contacting the HMRC to inform them of their error and scam!
Please help... Thanks 

poppy12345

A £1000 phone bill?? the number to ring HMRC and DVLA are free phone numbers... they both start with 0300...

sheramber

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/premium-rate-number-scams-ay3uY7c0jtju

How the scam works 

This scam tries to snare people who are searching online for telephone numbers of government advice services.

It works by displaying an advert for the phone number of the relevant government advice line. All well and good, you might say.

But the sting is that you’ll be charged a premium for using this advertised telephone number – in some cases, as much as £20 or £30 a call. 

You will be put through to the right advice line, but will be paying a very high and unnecessary connection fee. 

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/get-help-with-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme

Phone

Due to measures put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus we have fewer advisers available to answer your calls.

Telephone:
0800 024 1222

Opening times:

Monday to Friday: 8am to 4pm

Closed on bank holidays.

Find out about call charges

Start dialling a few minutes before 8am to get through.

HampshireH

GinaS79 said:

Hi my partner has applied for the final support grant for the self employed. However during the process he noticed that his application had been frauded and the bank details were for someone in Leister and the bank was also not outs but Barclays.
After seeing this error my partner tried in vain to contact the HMRC to inform them that it wasn't him. After several attempts to contact them via different methods we are still no closer to getting the grant. We have now been alerted by our broadband service that we now have a £1000 phone bill!!!! 
Virgin have been amazing but it would seem the numbers attached to the HMRC and DVLA are 090.. numbers and charge £3.60 a minute. So my partner would be left on hold for 25 mins and cut off. In panic he then recalls and so on...
How is this ethical or fair?
Currently we are only just making ends meet on my part time wage as a Teaching Assistant. 
I now have to pay £192 pm back to Virgin to cover the debt.
All we are guilty of is contacting the HMRC to inform them of their error and scam!
Please help... Thanks 

Sounds like he has been getting his phone numbers from unofficial websites.

I'm surprised your phone company didn't alert you to unusual usage. Not sure if virgin offer this but Plusnet used to allow you to out a call cap on. For example mine was £10 a month. Won't help with the debt but will with going forward.

It's not fair but he has been scammed and that's not Virgin, DVLA or HMRCs fault 

mattyprice4004

You've been scammed by sites offering unofficial numbers that charge a fortune - not the fault of any of the companies or organisations mentioned. 

unholyangel

The whole thing, not just the number, could be a scam. 

Send an email/text telling them they can apply, then tell them an application was already made in wrong details so they panic then provide a premium rate number for them to see as a "beacon" while panicked. 

Getting cut off at 25 mins each time is very coincidental. You can get cut off from HMRC but the chances of it happening consecutively and consistently are very unlikely. Furthermore, to make a claim wouldn't they need your partner's login details and need to apply within your partner's claim window but before your partner tried to claim? 

MattMattMattUK

unholyangel said:

The whole thing, not just the number, could be a scam. 

Send an email/text telling them they can apply, then tell them an application was already made in wrong details so they panic then provide a premium rate number for them to see as a "beacon" while panicked. 

Getting cut off at 25 mins each time is very coincidental. You can get cut off from HMRC but the chances of it happening consecutively and consistently are very unlikely. Furthermore, to make a claim wouldn't they need your partner's login details and need to apply within your partner's claim window but before your partner tried to claim? 

Out of interest, as well as the login details, is 2FA compulsory for HMRC login now? I have had it on personal and business HMRC accounts for years, so I do not know, but can you even just log in with just the username and password or do they make everyone set it up?

unholyangel

MattMattMattUK said:

unholyangel said:

The whole thing, not just the number, could be a scam. 

Send an email/text telling them they can apply, then tell them an application was already made in wrong details so they panic then provide a premium rate number for them to see as a "beacon" while panicked. 

Getting cut off at 25 mins each time is very coincidental. You can get cut off from HMRC but the chances of it happening consecutively and consistently are very unlikely. Furthermore, to make a claim wouldn't they need your partner's login details and need to apply within your partner's claim window but before your partner tried to claim? 

Out of interest, as well as the login details, is 2FA compulsory for HMRC login now? I have had it on personal and business HMRC accounts for years, so I do not know, but can you even just log in with just the username and password or do they make everyone set it up?

Good point, and I'm relatively sure it is. At least from what I recall when setting mine up on government gateway, it wouldn't let me progress until I had added at least one method. 

Not sure if it's the same for Seiss applications, but I imagine if it's government gateway then it will be exactly the same sign in process since gov gateway is a service used by HMRC rather than a service offered by them. 

sparklep0ny

unholyangel said:

MattMattMattUK said:

unholyangel said:

The whole thing, not just the number, could be a scam. 

Send an email/text telling them they can apply, then tell them an application was already made in wrong details so they panic then provide a premium rate number for them to see as a "beacon" while panicked. 

Getting cut off at 25 mins each time is very coincidental. You can get cut off from HMRC but the chances of it happening consecutively and consistently are very unlikely. Furthermore, to make a claim wouldn't they need your partner's login details and need to apply within your partner's claim window but before your partner tried to claim? 

Out of interest, as well as the login details, is 2FA compulsory for HMRC login now? I have had it on personal and business HMRC accounts for years, so I do not know, but can you even just log in with just the username and password or do they make everyone set it up?

Good point, and I'm relatively sure it is. At least from what I recall when setting mine up on government gateway, it wouldn't let me progress until I had added at least one method. 

Not sure if it's the same for Seiss applications, but I imagine if it's government gateway then it will be exactly the same sign in process since gov gateway is a service used by HMRC rather than a service offered by them. 

It's the same for SEISS too.

JJC1956

GinaS79 said:

Hi my partner has applied for the final support grant for the self employed. However during the process he noticed that his application had been frauded and the bank details were for someone in Leister and the bank was also not outs but Barclays.
After seeing this error my partner tried in vain to contact the HMRC to inform them that it wasn't him. After several attempts to contact them via different methods we are still no closer to getting the grant. We have now been alerted by our broadband service that we now have a £1000 phone bill!!!! 
Virgin have been amazing but it would seem the numbers attached to the HMRC and DVLA are 090.. numbers and charge £3.60 a minute. So my partner would be left on hold for 25 mins and cut off. In panic he then recalls and so on...
How is this ethical or fair?
Currently we are only just making ends meet on my part time wage as a Teaching Assistant. 
I now have to pay £192 pm back to Virgin to cover the debt.
All we are guilty of is contacting the HMRC to inform them of their error and scam!
Please help... Thanks 

How have Virgin been amazing? They are not writing off the £1000 debt they are charging you £192 per month for being scammed, you seriously need to have another chat with them, lets face it how many people know what are premium rate numbers, these tricksters call mobiles then hang up when you answer hoping that you will return their calls on their very expensive lines. Plus disguise theirselves as legit companies or organisations. 
PS My accountant emailed me last week to inform me that there was a very sophisticated SEISS 4 Scam going on, so beware.