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We recently received an email on a tax scam: ‘I would like to share in some way that I had a call a few days ago from a phone number that was not withheld, in which I was told by a confident male voice that HMRC has a warrant out for me and that I will be arrested unless I “press one”.
‘We hear a lot about scam emails, but is this something even more serious? I obviously reported it to HMRC but had no response except a standard one. I strongly suspect such intimidation is inherently illegal and would frighten many people considerably. Have you heard of this happening before? It would be odd if I were the only one.’
Coincidentally, a day or two before receiving the email above, ‘Taxation Towers’ also received a phone call from a gentleman (well, we say gentleman) warning us that a warrant had been issued and threatening imminent arrest for the non-payment of tax. Naturally, we also declined to ‘press one’ as requested, but a few days later a family member received a similar call. On further investigation, this seemed to emanate from the retail premises for a well-known car manufacturer, but we assume they have nothing to do with this and that their number had been ‘spoofed’.
HMRC says: ‘Unfortunately, we are aware of these sorts of calls and it’s something we do a lot of work combating. I’d encourage both you and your reader to report the calls to us so we can investigate.’
Perhaps this is an opportune moment to remind ourselves of the department’s more detailed advice:
‘Criminals use a range of techniques in tax-related phone scams, including calling taxpayers and offering a bogus tax refund, or threatening them with arrest if they don’t immediately pay fictitious tax owed. We are a well-known brand, which criminals abuse to add credibility to their scams.
‘HMRC’s dedicated customer protection team in cyber security operations works to identify and close down scams every day. HMRC has pioneered the use in government of technical controls to stop its helpline numbers being spoofed, so that fraudsters can no longer make it appear that they are calling from HMRC.
‘The department also works in partnership with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to block malicious phone numbers.
‘Over the past year HMRC has:
- worked with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to remove more than 3,056 phone numbers being used to perpetrate HMRC-related phone scams; and
- responded to 242,494 reports of phone scams from the public in total, up 24% on the previous year. In April this year we received reports of only 425 phone scams. In September this had risen to 46,015.’
‘HMRC’s advice:
‘Stop:
- Take a moment to think before parting with your information or money.
- Don’t give out private information or reply to text messages, and don’t download attachments or click on links in texts or emails you weren’t expecting.
‘Challenge:
- It’s ok to reject, refuse or ignore any requests – only criminals will try to rush or panic you.
- Search ‘scams’ on GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact and how to avoid and report tax scams.
‘Protect:
- Forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.
- Contact your bank immediately if you think you have fallen victim to a scam, and report it to Action Fraud (www.actionfraud.police.uk).’
