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!

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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lindylou: Recorded message. Caller stated that he was a police officer and gave a name which I do not remember. He said that there was an HMRC case and we should ring immediately for advice before arrest.

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Jean: ad a call from HMRC. ! Supposedly saying I owed £5000 in tax I’m a pensioner with very little income. Caller was aggressive and persistent do not fall for this scam HMRC would never just contact you by phone for any tax problem.

Gary: Aggressive call left a message. Computerised voice saying it was extremeley time sensitive abd if i didnt call sarah wilson back i better get ready for action. I was also told to get a solicitor asap.looked on this site and another victim said they called hmrc and its not a call from them.
Sara: Left a message on my ansafone claiming to be from Sarah Wilson at HMRC and threatening legal action if I or my solicitor didn’t call them back immediately! Called back and spoke to a male with an Asian accent who gave his name as Kevin. He eventually hung up when I insisted on speaking to Sarah Wilson. I called HMRC who confirmed this is not a genuine call from them!

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roger: Threatening automated message, pretending to be hmrc. Claiming to be time sensitive with legal consequences.Complete scam!
Tadhg: ust had this number as a missed call + voicemail message. This is not HMRC, but a scam. Also reported this to HMRC itself – doubtless they’ll do absolutely nothing about it

These scammers mostly take advantage of our fear of unpaid taxes. Yes, sometimes we have many things in our mind and we forget appointments, deadlines and taxes! This is normal and we shouldn’t let fraudsters use this to trick us. All scam methods are usually quite similar and easily recognizable. HMRC reported in their official press release about this type of scam in particular:

“HMRC only informs you about tax refunds through the post or through your pay via your employer. All emails, text messages, or voicemail messages saying you have a tax refund are a scam. Do not click on any links in these messages, and forward them to HMRC’s phishing email address and phone number.
We know that criminals will try and use events like the end of the financial year, the self-assessment deadline, and the issuing of tax refunds to target the public and attempt to get them to reveal their personal data. It is important to be alert to the danger.”

So what should you do if you receive those types of calls? Don´t panic! Here are some tips for you:

• Do not trust the caller immediately! You can always say that you’re busy at the moment and you will call back later.
• You should check if the number can be trusted or not. Use our tellows community to see if there’s any information about the phone number. tellows has more than 200.000 users monthly who always keep you updated about any possible phone number.
• Don’t give any personal information, especially your bank account or PIN number. In fact, it’s never a good idea to give out any personal data to anyone via telephone. You never know if you’re being tracked or if the other person records the call.
• If you receive a message or an email, don’t click on any links. They might use a hacking program to steal your personal information from the internet.

Furthermore, HMRC gives you many possibilities to report these scams:
You can contact [email protected] and text 60599, or contact Action Fraud at 0300 123 2040 to report any suspicious calls or use its online fraud reporting tool. You can check GOV.UK for further information on how to avoid and how to report this type of  scam calls.

Have you ever received a call like this? Please write a comment below!

tellows team