Ministry of Justice scam phone call

PammFerg

My friend received a phone call from Ministry of Justice (020 3334 3555) claiming he owed tax. He did owe an amount similar to what they quoted. They proceeded to tell him he was 'live' in court and had to make this payment. They threatened to take his passport and driving license if he did not pay. He said he could not pay in full but could manage £499. The person on the phone then instructed him to download the app Revolut on to his phone to make the payment, this did not work. They then instructed him to download the app 'Wallet' to make the payment. They took £499 from his account. He went in to his local TSB bank to explain - but was fobbed off. I encouraged him to phone the TSB fraud team - however they say that Revolut/Wallet are responsible. Can anyone advise who is responsible and how we can reclaim this money? I also found out after, when I googled the phone number, the Ministry of Justice have had their phone number hacked, and they are aware of it! Thank you in advance for your assistance.

DullGreyGuy

PammFerg said:

My friend received a phone call from Ministry of Justice (020 3334 3555) claiming he owed tax. 

He got called from someone claiming to be from the MoJ not from the MoJ itself... obviously the rest of the story has so many red flags that it was clearly a scammer but thats water under the bridge.


You story said Revolt didnt work so why do you think they could be in anyway liable? Which app exactly do you mean by "Wallet" there are hundreds of apps with it in their name or exclusively as their name.

My the sounds of it they paid by debit card and unfortunately Authorised Push PAyment Fraud agreements etc dont get covered for card payments. You would however potentially be able to do a chargeback.

soolin

It is a very obvious scam and I suspect your friend is going to struggle to reclaim his money. Revolut will probably just close the scammers account so any hope of redress will have to go via TSB, and as your friend willingly sent the money I suspect getting anything back will be difficult. 

Was there no warnings from TSB before making the payment, nothing asking you to confirm you were happy it was legit?

Incidentally the number won't have been hacked, just spoofed which is easily done now. The number in question is used for various scams including HMRC and court ones   02033343555 who called me? | who-called.co.uk

PammFerg

I do not know the exact 'wallet app'. He deleted the apps after he realised he had been scammed. He is not very tech savvy - and followed all their instructions but later deleted the apps in case they could take further payments. There was no warning from TSB. I will look into chargeback... although I won't hold my breath. 
Thank you for you advice and time.

eskbanker

PammFerg said:

I encouraged him to phone the TSB fraud team - however they say that Revolut/Wallet are responsible. Can anyone advise who is responsible and how we can reclaim this money?

While it may seem blindingly obvious to most on here that this was a scam, it's perhaps worth pushing TSB further, on the basis that they proudly promote their fraud refund guarantee, at https://www.tsb.co.uk/fraud-prevention-centre/fraud-refund-guarantee/

Obviously there are caveats and exceptions, but IMHO there's nothing to lose by complaining to them and getting them to clarify exactly why they believe their guarantee doesn't come into play.  If he was willingly transferring money to another account in his name (prior to it being sent onwards to the fraudsters) then this could allow TSB to escape liability though....

TELLIT01

The reality is that no genuine organisation, public or private, will telephone out of the blue demanding money be paid immediately.  That's not always so obvious when you get somebody threatening you on the phone.

bris

Simple answer is your friend is responsible.

Tax does not get paid on apps and the tax man sends letters, and reminders then statutory notices, then enforcement bang on the door.

The story is full of red flags

MalMonroe

Hi, I agree with eskbanker about pushing TSB.

They should have alerted your friend. Every time I want to set up or make any payment whatsoever on my banking app, there's a warning and I'm asked if I really want to proceed and I'm warned about scams and scammers. Just for small sums of money. So I'm sure TSB should be asking their customers the same thing.

No organisation, anywhere, will ask for immediate payment of anything. Nothing is ever that urgent.

TSB is definitely responsible here, though, in my opinion.

Brie

I agree with others that there are so many red flags that no one should ever fall for such a scam.  But the problem is that we know they are red flags and that it's a scam but too too many others are not so aware.  That's why there continues to be ad campaigns to warn people and warnings when you log into online banking etc.  It's like so many things that are very obvious to us - you don't cross the road while texting as you aren't watching the traffic but people still do it.

SpudGunPaul

MalMonroe said:

Hi, I agree with eskbanker about pushing TSB.

They should have alerted your friend. Every time I want to set up or make any payment whatsoever on my banking app, there's a warning and I'm asked if I really want to proceed and I'm warned about scams and scammers. Just for small sums of money. So I'm sure TSB should be asking their customers the same thing.

No organisation, anywhere, will ask for immediate payment of anything. Nothing is ever that urgent.

TSB is definitely responsible here, though, in my opinion.

That's funny, it happens to me every time I go shopping. 

DullGreyGuy

SpudGunPaul said:

MalMonroe said:

Hi, I agree with eskbanker about pushing TSB.

They should have alerted your friend. Every time I want to set up or make any payment whatsoever on my banking app, there's a warning and I'm asked if I really want to proceed and I'm warned about scams and scammers. Just for small sums of money. So I'm sure TSB should be asking their customers the same thing.

No organisation, anywhere, will ask for immediate payment of anything. Nothing is ever that urgent.

TSB is definitely responsible here, though, in my opinion.

That's funny, it happens to me every time I go shopping. 

Every time you go shopping someone phones you saying you are live in court and you have to make immediate payment?