Tag Archives: HMRC

HMRC works with telecoms to stop fraudsters

Updated 24 Feb 2020

It is almost March, how time flies! The tellows team has also been busy keeping the information about phone scams up to date. As expected, unfortunately, the number of spam calls, especially related to cost traps, is soaring because of more advanced technology nowadays and scammers having more means to escape from the authorities. Scammers have been taking advantage of taxpayers in last year. According to HMRC, over 100,000 reports of frauds were reported last year and the number is increasing. Last year, HMRC announced that it has been working with Ofcom, Mobile UK, Mobile Ecosystem Forum and Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum together to prevent bogus tax calls. The cooperation was successful and 1050 numbers have been deleted by HMRC, of which many numbers started with 0300. HMRC also stated that the number of phone scam reports has reduced by 25%, which is a very promising sign.

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HMRC Scam – Police is coming!

1 Reply

Dear tellows fellows,
we constantly receive information about new types of telephone fraud from our users. We want to thank you for always keeping our community updated and for warning other users about new types of scams!

telephone scam

We have been seeing several reports in our tellows community regarding frauds claiming to be from HMRC. Usually it is an automated voice message warning you that the police will become involved if you ignore the call, or requiring an urgent call back. Many users have already reported about a recorded message, a common feature with all these calls. Therefore, we want to warn you about this type of fraud.

Here are some reports about this type of scam from our users:
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This Week’s Most Wanted

Dear friends of tellows,

This week we have numbers from legal debt collectors, a consumer helpline and a call centre, for your entertainment. Personal information and loans seem to be of equal worth to both debt collectors and call centres, and they pursue them with all their might, turning a deaf ear to any protest!

1. 08433770317 with 4 comments and 3368 search requests. tellows Score: 7
2. 08445766235 with 4 comments and 2756 search requests. tellows Score: 8
3. 08000524264 with 3 comments and 1732 search requests. tellows Score: 7

The first number is 08433770317 and the owner seems to be Drydens Fairfax solicitors, who work for HMRC. They play the part of debt collectors, calling people who still have open payments to their name. The trouble is that the Drydens Fairfax solicitors are a bit behind the times: they’re also calling people whose debts have already been paid.

They work for HMRC and collect overdue payments but I already told them that I payed everything months ago. Maybe they don’t work closely with the HMRC but I suggest they should, otherwise they just scare away the people and also harm HMRCs reputation…

The second number 08445766235 belongs to the Consumer Helpline and it’s not quite clear why they’re calling but it’s fairly safe to assume that they’re hoping to collect some of your personal information during the call.

They called me repeatedly and at some point i just answered and although I didn’t really understood what they wanted, they started asking for my personal information. At that point I clearly told them that I’m not gonna reveal any of it. They hung up. Better for them

And the third number 08000524264 belongs to a call centre which works with different insurance companies (like Admiral, Bell and Elephant) and in one case, the caller introduced himself as O2. You can always ask them to remove your number from their books and hope for the best.

No info left on answerphone-repetitive calls/hangups.
Contacted call centre company ‘CALL CONNECTION’who said it may belong to Admiral Insurance Group-I had a quote from this company and specifically told them ‘NO PHONE CALLS’
CALL CONNECTION call centre have now said they will remove my number from their DATA BANK

If you’re getting nuisance calls like these, please don’t hesitate to share your knowledge on tellows! It really can help other users spot a nuisance caller a mile off, saving all of you a lot of time and energy.

Have a nice weekend!

Your tellows team