Bogus HMRC investigation letter?

westbridgfordguy · 9 August 2018 at 8:23PM

I received at home a hand delivered letter today looking incredibly authentic from the HMRC Fraud Investigation Team basically saying that they are conducting an investigation into suspected Corporation Tax fraud and they need to interview me as I have knowledge of companies which would be of interest to them.

It stresses that I am not under investigation and that an investigator came round my house today but I was out and to contact them on given e-mail address or mobile number signed by an HMRC investigator.

Is this a bogus letter, I didn't think HMRC made unannounced home visits to members of the public? The letter does look incredibly genuine with the HMRC logo and Newcastle address for the Fraud Investigation Service on the letter head?

DJMitchell · 9 August 2018 at 8:58PM

What were the details of the address/ phone number and email address?

Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post them on here.

chrismac1 · 9 August 2018 at 9:01PM

It sounds dubious to me, but they do make visits like that. It's very unlikely that HMRC would give you a mobile number, though, much more likely to be a landline at Benton Park, Newcastle.

Also, corporation tax I thought was not dealt with at Newcastle. For example, most of my client companies are based in Cumbria and it is the Dundee office for that.

One thing for anyone who is reading this to take on board. Should anyone turn up at your door claiming to be from HMRC and either seeking money or information, ask to see their photo ID. If he or she produces it, make a careful note of all the details on it. If you have any doubts ask for the physical office that HMRC person is operating from, then call that landline number and ask to be put through to him or her.

There are lots of "HMRC" scams on the go at the moment. In my client base of 147 clients, I get sent details of one by a scared client probably twice a month on average. Even pretty savvy clients can think they are genuine.

So on balance this one is probably a scam. But certain branches of HMRC operate with similar methods to scammers - Debt Collection, for example - so I can't be more than 80% confident.

westbridgfordguy · 9 August 2018 at 10:13PM

DJMitchell wrote: »

What were the details of the address/ phone number and email address?

Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post them on here.

Fraud Investigation Service
HMRC
Dept 198, FIS
SO125
Newcastle
NE98 1ZZ

E-mail was first.last name@HMRC.gsi.gov.uk (have omitted persons name)

Should I contact the police if this is not genuine?

DJMitchell · 9 August 2018 at 10:50PM

well the address and email are both legitimate HMRC, that doesn't necessarily mean the letter is legit though.
I would recommend ringing Benton Park View on 0300 200 3310 and asking for the specific department rather than chancing the mobile number because I still feel that is strange to give out. I would also have thought there would be a reference on the letter as well.

Dazed_and_confused · 10 August 2018 at 7:07AM

And there is such a department in HMRC, google Fraud Investigation COP 8 for more information on what they do.

ciderboy2009 · 10 August 2018 at 7:52AM

The fact that it's a gsi (Government Secure Intranet) email address makes it 99.9% genuine to me.

00ec25 · 10 August 2018 at 8:04AM

westbridgfordguy wrote: »

d they need to interview me as I have knowledge of companies which would be of interest to them.

so what do you think is going to be scammed from you?

what are the chances that someone other than HMRC knows a) where you live so they can hand deliver something and b) knows that you know about these specific companies?

we have had posts on here before from HMRC staff confirming that the investigators do make unannounced physical calls to people and do, for obvious reasons, give out mobile numbers to allow direct contact. How else could they operate!

Normally Chrismac's well known contempt of HMRC is right and proper, but in this case he should have said it is 80% not a scam

reporting to the police will be ignored anyway. read the news, they don't have the time to investigate non crimes given they can't even investigate those crimes that do happen.

kazwookie · 10 August 2018 at 8:08AM

Ring up HMRC via the number given above, or you look their number up from their web site, and ask to speak to the relevant department.

Do not ring any numbers on any thing that was hand delivered to you.

chrismac1 · 10 August 2018 at 8:36AM

I have to say, as someone who has had quite a bit of experience in dealing with unnannounced HMRC visits in my client base, that in the early stages it is more or less impossible for me to tell on the phone - the client will normally call me - whether it is a scam or genuine HMRC.

The tactics are very similar. When you are dealing with Debt Management, the people are very similar and their behaviours are very similar. Personally I think HMRC senior management should take a good hard look at the aggressive way they often approach these situations, there really is no difference in practice between a call from HMRC saying "you must pay us this right now or else" and one from a scammer saying "you must pay us this right now or else". Quite often a mobile phone number is all the HMRC person - or contractor where HMRC has contracted things out - gives my client, which is pretty much the acid test of a scammer is it not?

Only checking the photo ID and then tracing things back to a landline and verifying that a bona fide HMRC staff member is based on that landline number will really cut it.

My general advice in dealing with any form of cold call applies to "HMRC" equally to any other form of cold call:

If it walks like a spiv and talks like a spiv, then it is a spiv until proven otherwise beyond all reasonable doubt.

xylophone · 10 August 2018 at 10:51AM

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/684324/COP8_02_18.pdf

We will use our statutory information powers, if necessary, to approach third parties for information.

Nevertheless, to turn up unannounced at the home of a third party (presumably expecting admittance) on the basis that the person might have information relating to certain other parties seems very strange.

What about the privacy of the companies to whom the investigation relates? Does the third party have the right to know that they are the subject of an investigation?

What if the third party discusses the matter with other unrelated persons?

I would not make any contact through the details shown on the letter before contacting the official number shown on the government web site and even then I would be inclined to request a letter through the post from the official source before giving any information at all.

Bogus HMRC investigation letter?

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