Telephone Scam (1 Viewer)

[oldskyblue58]

Had a client in recently who had received a call from a Heather Grey purporting to be from HMRC

Told the client he was in trouble with HMRC and needed to take urgent action. Had to call back on the number given or get his accounts attourney to do so

The use of attourney got me suspicious, its not a UK term, not to mention I know his tax affairs are up to date. Did some checking and discovered that others in UK had received similar calls from an 0203 number (London). There are several numbers that have been used. Others have been threatened that court orders or bailiffs are on the way in next 45mins

It seems they are targeting older people. So if you or relatives or friends get any of these calls do not reply, they are a scam
These are scam numbers
02031293460
02031295553
02031296397
02031291027

HMRC will not contact you out of the blue and threaten court action in this way

The real General helpline HMRC number is 0300 200 3300
To report a scam relating to HMRC
Action Fraud
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
0300 123 20 40

 

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[Nick]

Dodgy! What are they asking for? Money to stop the bailiffs?

 

[oldskyblue58]

a payment of tax and penalties. One case I saw quoted £2000 in tax and £9000 in penalties.

Also got to be careful even replying as there are scams that bill you huge sums on phone charges

 

[Nick]

a payment of tax and penalties. One case I saw quoted £2000 in tax and £9000 in penalties.

Also got to be careful even replying as there are scams that bill you huge sums on phone charges

I guess the tax is really going to their bank?

 

[oldskyblue58]

yes exactly

 

[chiefdave]

I just don't answer anything if its not a number I know.

I ended up closing my Lloyds account as everytime they phoned up, usually to try and sell me something, they would insist on me giving them security information. They couldn't grasp that I wasn't going to give security information to someone who had called me out of the blue asking for it!

 

[Cov City Daytrader 87]

It's not just the ones that both Osb or Chiefdave mentions, but also cold caller phoning up about trading/latest invest etc. I remember that I had one who when you tell them you're not interested and put the phone down, they phone back immediately to harass you as if to say they're keep phoning until you say yes.

So be on your guard for these ones.

 

[Nick]

I still like the ones from Microsoft, can talk to them all day

 

[armybike]

0203 was the the code for Cov back in the day before it became 01203 and then 024.

I appreciate the helpful folks who contact me about the car accident I've had - but seems odd they never know my name, car colour/reg, address, insurance company or that I've not actually had an accident!

 

[Cov City Daytrader 87]

I appreciate the helpful folks who contact me about the car accident I've had - but seems odd they never know my name, car colour/reg, address, insurance company or that I've not actually had an accident!

Had those. Forget challenging them, just put the down.

 

[dutchman]

Had a call from someone with an incomprehensible Indian-subcontinent accent claiming to be from Talk Talk and 'advising' me that my PC had been 'compromised' by malware. He would not doubt have offered to 'fix' it for me in return for certain information had I not shouted "nice try" and slammed the phone down. What was worrying is that he knew part of my billing name but I declined to furnish the rest of it when prompted.

Went immediately into Talk Talk's forum and discovered quite a few customers had a similar experience that same morning.

 

[armybike]

Had those. Forget challenging them, just put the down.

I find playing along with their nonsense is good sport, as they're so use to having the phone put down that if you start answering the questions and playing along they think they've got you - plus whilst you're wasting their time they're not wasting anyone else's.

 

[mrtrench]

Telephone Scaaaaam... you're my main man.

 

[DazzleTommyDazzle]

0203 was the the code for Cov back in the day before it became 01203 and then 024.

I appreciate the helpful folks who contact me about the car accident I've had - but seems odd they never know my name, car colour/reg, address, insurance company or that I've not actually had an accident!

If I'm feeling bored, I usually ask them where they got my information from and demand to speak to their manager so that I can make an official complaint about a DPA breach.

 

[Captain Dart]

Telephone Scaaaaam... you're my main man.

Or.. another 70's phone scam