Taxpayers are being urged to take care when receiving calls purporting to come from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), as these are scams – HMRC will never call taxpayers direct.
The way the scam works is that someone calls and informs the listener that they owe tax that must be paid immediately. They sound very plausible and go on to threaten the listener with bailiffs or even an arrest warrant.
Naturally, some listeners are so scared by this that they give out personal details, such as their National Insurance number or date of birth without thinking it through. However, some of these criminals are so brazen, they will even carry out home visits – in one case, when the listener realised the call was a scam and hung up, fake bailiffs turned up on the doorstep soon after. In that instance, the taxpayer called the police, who confirmed it was a scam but it must have been very upsetting at the time.
The threatening call might be in the form of a text message or voicemail too. In either case, the message is for the taxpayer to call ‘the taxman’ back. When they do call back, they are told there is a case being built against them for an outstanding debt and that they must pay immediately. Often they are informed that there is a warrant out in their name and that if they don’t pay, the police will arrest them.
The bottom line is that HMRC will never use texts or voicemail message to tell taxpayers about a penalty or ever ask for payment in this way. Anyone receiving such a call should immediately inform their accountant and/or the police, who can then follow through and attempt to catch the criminals.
