HMRC Self employed covid grany

sparklep0ny

JJC1956 said:

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.

Many of us do.  They're not a secret.  I was made aware of what premium numbers were when I was a child and little has changed since then other than them getting their own specific prefix to make it even easier to spot them.

If you choose not to educate yourself on the telephone system, and the cost to call different numbers, then that's on you.  Like I said, none of this is a secret.

Mrs_Ryan

If you had actually looked on the gov.uk website you would see that the correct number for HMRC is an 0300 number. I give it out countless times in a day so I’m dead certain that it’s not an 090 number... 

sheramber

 It is a premium number that connects you to  HMRC at considerable cost.
When someone  searches for HMRC it will come up , the same as the companies claiming tax rebates, driving licence applications, passport applications on your behalf but charging you for the privilege.
People click on the first link that comes up instead of checking it out first.

The_Fat_Controller

poppy12345 said:

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

@poppy12345 0300 numbers are not free, they are charged at the local/national rate, the same as 01 and 02 prefixes.
If you have inclusive minutes 01/02 and 03 prefixes will be included.

DjangoUnchained

this is a common problem, not only for hmrc. Personally i think google is partly to blame by allowing scammers to advertise copycat websites that charge people a premium for free services and have premium rate phone numbers.

Hasbeen

I do not think the OP will be back?

They posted and immediately disappeared and have not returned to the forum since that post. So have not seen any advice or comments?

Makes me think Er can I say it? Nope lets wait.

JJC1956

sparklep0ny said:

JJC1956 said:

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.

Many of us do.  They're not a secret.  I was made aware of what premium numbers were when I was a child and little has changed since then other than them getting their own specific prefix to make it even easier to spot them.

If you choose not to educate yourself on the telephone system, and the cost to call different numbers, then that's on you.  Like I said, none of this is a secret.

Well aren’t you the clever one, what’s that’s got to do with Virgin shafting one of its customers

sparklep0ny

JJC1956 said:

sparklep0ny said:

JJC1956 said:

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.

Many of us do.  They're not a secret.  I was made aware of what premium numbers were when I was a child and little has changed since then other than them getting their own specific prefix to make it even easier to spot them.

If you choose not to educate yourself on the telephone system, and the cost to call different numbers, then that's on you.  Like I said, none of this is a secret.

Well aren’t you the clever one, what’s that’s got to do with Virgin shafting one of its customers

How is asking someone to pay a bill they owe "shafting" their customer?  I suppose Tesco shaft their customers when they get to the till and they're expected to pay for their shopping?

And I don't consider myself particularly clever for knowing that premium rate numbers are a thing, and they start with 09.  If that passes for special nowadays I really do despair.

JJC1956

sparklep0ny said:

JJC1956 said:

sparklep0ny said:

JJC1956 said:

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.

Many of us do.  They're not a secret.  I was made aware of what premium numbers were when I was a child and little has changed since then other than them getting their own specific prefix to make it even easier to spot them.

If you choose not to educate yourself on the telephone system, and the cost to call different numbers, then that's on you.  Like I said, none of this is a secret.

Well aren’t you the clever one, what’s that’s got to do with Virgin shafting one of its customers

How is asking someone to pay a bill they owe "shafting" their customer?  I suppose Tesco shaft their customers when they get to the till and they're expected to pay for their shopping?

And I don't consider myself particularly clever for knowing that premium rate numbers are a thing, and they start with 09.  If that passes for special nowadays I really do despair.

So you think its Ok for people to get scammed and pay £1,000 for a telephone call because they weren’t as clever as you when you were young, irrespective of whether the extremely high call charges that Virgin allowed their (SCAM MERCHANT) customer to charge their innocent not up to date customers with the latest technology (LIKE YOU) , shame on you. 

sparklep0ny

JJC1956 said:

sparklep0ny said:

JJC1956 said:

sparklep0ny said:

JJC1956 said:

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.

Many of us do.  They're not a secret.  I was made aware of what premium numbers were when I was a child and little has changed since then other than them getting their own specific prefix to make it even easier to spot them.

If you choose not to educate yourself on the telephone system, and the cost to call different numbers, then that's on you.  Like I said, none of this is a secret.

Well aren’t you the clever one, what’s that’s got to do with Virgin shafting one of its customers

How is asking someone to pay a bill they owe "shafting" their customer?  I suppose Tesco shaft their customers when they get to the till and they're expected to pay for their shopping?

And I don't consider myself particularly clever for knowing that premium rate numbers are a thing, and they start with 09.  If that passes for special nowadays I really do despair.

So you think its Ok for people to get scammed and pay £1,000 for a telephone call because they weren’t as clever as you when you were young, irrespective of whether the extremely high call charges that Virgin allowed their (SCAM MERCHANT) customer to charge their innocent not up to date customers with the latest technology (LIKE YOU) , shame on you. 

I don't think it's OK to be scammed.

However, I do have limited sympathy when people are scammed by something like a premium rate number "scam" as the existence of these numbers is not a secret, and anyone who is responsible for paying a phone bill should be aware of the costs of making certain phone calls.  And the system is fairly dumbed down nowadays.  It used to be certain 08 numbers that were premium rate, but others were not (some even being free.) Nowadays it is "09 = bad" and that's it.

You also don't appear to know how telecommunications systems work either.  The chances of the scammer being a Virgin customer are slim to none, so saying "Virgin allowed one of their customers to scam another of their customers" is almost certainly not true.  Someone allowed someone to set this number up, but unfortunately companies can generally only be reactive to these scams, not proactive so it's really up to us to educate ourselves, rather than relying on the state or businesses to protect us.

And finally, saying I'm up to date with new technology is true, but irrelevant here.  Neither telephones nor premium phone numbers are even remotely new tech.  Like I said, I was educated on these numbers by my parents when I was a child.  This may come as a surprise to you, but that was quite a long time ago.  You can't really say "well some people aren't aware of this new fangled premium rate call stuff."  It's not even remotely new.

Edit:  And just to add, Virgin (landline) at the very least offer call barring services for various numbers, including one for premium rate calls.  If it's Virgin Mobile we're talking about they also offer spending caps.  It's not their fault the customer has not availed themselves of these services.