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UK HMRC Phone Scam

UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby smudges » Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:07 pm

I appreciate this is a Spanish forum, but in case there are members in the UK viewing, please be aware that there is a new (to me, anyway) scam going round.
You get an automated message purporting to be from the Inland Revenue. When you speak to a (Indian) person, they say they are from the HMRC and it's about your outstanding tax bill. You're told that there's an arrest warrant with the police.
VERY professional...I rang the police and Action Fraud. It's been doing the rounds for a year and terrifying until you get a grip and start asking questions, when she hung up.
Just to warn you all and if I'm not the last person to be aware of it, please pass on this warning.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby Danny1967 » Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:54 pm

I’ve been receiving unlimited emails saying I’m owed tax refund again it’s a scam
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby Jonb » Thu Jun 07, 2018 11:06 pm

Yep, tried the email on me too. Best one I’ve seen of the type. I forwarded it to HMRC online fraud depot, who mailed me back to confirm it was a scam.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby GrahamR » Fri Jun 08, 2018 2:28 pm

I have had several of these over the past few years:
HMRC.
The US IRS (Inland Revenue Service).
US Department of Justice.
Computer running slowly (Microsoft Support).
Often it sounds like the same guy - always Indian or Pakistani - with an affected accent.
Every single one of them are scams.
One of the very big giveaways is the fact they start with your name and then ask you ‘how are you today?’ I very much doubt that anyone genuinely from any of the above organisations, with the exception of Microsoft, would care how you are feeling today, and would be about to make your day a while lot worse.
None of these organisations are going to call you out of the blue.
I have found three ways to deal with them:
1) Act dumb and play them along until they get so frustrated they put the phone down on you.
2) very rudely tell them to go to hell and put the phone down.
3) ask them who they are and ask for their contact details and say you might, or might not, call them back and then tell them you are going to report them to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Never give these people any information and do not give the ‘Microsoft guy access to your computer.
There are some videos on YouTube. I think one was where an Asian inadvertently rang a US government officer.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby smudges » Fri Jun 08, 2018 3:05 pm

This is all helpful info. I would say that the woman I spoke to was not especially polite, more determined to set the police on me every time I asked for paperwork At one point she said...can you understand what I'm telling you, are you stupid....that kind of gave it away. All designed to not give you time to think. Aggressive, well spoken Indian. Not at all like the Microsoft scam and she certainly didn't ask how I was.
I went to register with the Telephone Preference Service this morning and found that I was already on there.
I would imagine they look at the electoral register to pick out older people (evidently I am, now!) as they're an easier mark. I hope they die slowly and nastily. It was a real shock to the system. The Action Fraud bloke told me that they have been getting a lot of money from this. Gits.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby PeteKnight » Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:00 pm

I usually ask them to hold on while I turn the computer on (it's very old and low to boot-up you know), find my HMRC file, find the information from my bank etc etc.
I can usually keep them on the phone for 15 minutes or so, which means that they aren't scamming anyone else during that time and probably missing their targets for generating fraudulent income.

Pete.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby smudges » Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:23 pm

Brill! I'll do that if it happens again. I'd normally hang up but why not have a bit of fun with the scum???!!
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby GrahamR » Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:33 pm

After the Microsoft’a ‘Your computer is running very slow’ call, I checked on YouTube. A victim acted a bit dim and each time the Asian told him to to hit a key on the computer, he said OK and then turned on Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ on his mobile. The victim was saying he was hitting the correct key on his computer and the Asian was getting more and more frustrated and angry that something was going wrong. After about 20 minutes of this the caller gave up.
It’s good ‘sport’.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby essbea » Sat Jun 09, 2018 12:18 am

My Dad, who was 92 at the time, did more or less the same...."just a moment, I need to switch the computer on"....then after 10 minutes..."oh, sorry, I haven't got a computer"! He lived a long and happy life,but was still sharp enough to dodge these modern day scammers, bless him.
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Re: UK HMRC Phone Scam

Postby tinak » Fri Jun 15, 2018 11:30 am

Off topic, but another similar phone call is the one where they say ‘I understand you have been involved in an accident ‘. I kept agreeing with them and when they said was anyone hurt, I said yes I was killed, stoney silence and then they hung up!! lol
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