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  • Yet another scam

    Have just received a phone call purporting to be from HM Revenue and Customs, informing me that HMRC are preparing a case against me and that I may discuss this with my "Case Officer" by pressing button 1 on my phone. Needless to say, I did no such thing but hung up, then obtained an originating phone number by dialling 1471. Enquiries of HMRC via Facebook confirmed this to have been a bogus call, and I was invited to report it to Police Action Fraud, which I have done. Be wary all!

  • #2
    I've had two of these calls in the last ten days or so. If they call again I will get the number and do likewise.
    Ian Wilkinson '61 Scottish 24TD118

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    • #3
      I had one of these a week or so ago, it appears to be doing the rounds like all the other time wasting Asian accent callers, PPI, car accident, washing machine maintenance agreement, computor virus, house insulation etc etc. On average I get one or more a day. Bloody pests, I thought the Government were supposed to be tightening up on these.
      I even had one that was using a kosher company (Primark) phone number. How do they do that? There seems to be a link with Gumtree, as soon as you place an advert you start getting calls. Not to say it has anything to do with Gumtree, just that the scammers monitor adverts for phone numbers.

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      • #4
        No Asian accent with this one, John, but a quite plausible female voice obviously with English as her first language ............... They're getting more clever, it seems.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by johnrunnacles View Post
          No Asian accent with this one, John, but a quite plausible female voice obviously with English as her first language ............... They're getting more clever, it seems.
          Yes and the Telephone Preference Service are useless. I have a BT call blocker but as soon as you block one number they use another.

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          • #6
            Just another variation on an ages old scam. They ring you and can even masquerade as police officers working on serious fraud and have you "hang up and dial the local police" and ask for "Sergent so and so" which of course they answer because they have kept the line open.

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            • #7
              The number that John quoted (elsewhere) had 2500 hits on one internet search programme! They can clone the Caller Number to anything they want and there seems nothing can be done to stop them. My own phone system allows me to listen while a "sorry we can't take your call" message is sent. Any legit caller will leave a message, so I can cut in. The non-legit will just cut off. After they call and get this about 3 times, they drop you off the list. Another tell-tale that I spotted was when one of these groups had cloned a British Land-line number, but it appeared with the International dialling code preceding the code and numerical.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Brian Catt View Post
                The number that John quoted (elsewhere) had 2500 hits on one internet search programme! They can clone the Caller Number to anything they want and there seems nothing can be done to stop them. My own phone system allows me to listen while a "sorry we can't take your call" message is sent. Any legit caller will leave a message, so I can cut in. The non-legit will just cut off. After they call and get this about 3 times, they drop you off the list. Another tell-tale that I spotted was when one of these groups had cloned a British Land-line number, but it appeared with the International dialling code preceding the code and numerical.
                Cloning someone elses number (as with Primark) has very serious implications particularly if it was from a hospital, doctors surgery etc. I cant believe that the telephone providers can do nothing to stop this.

                The number for the HMRC scam is 02821 788269 but there may be others with same dialing code
                Last edited by John Wakefield; 13/03/2018, 09:43 AM.

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                • #9
                  Interesting that the scammers are using HMRC as cover - naturally some people would panic at the thought of the Tax Man chasing them up...

                  As a total coincidence, I've had an email pretending to be from HMRC this very day, and informing me I've overpaid my corporation tax. I did happen to make a corp tax payment a couple of weeks ago- perhaps a coincidence, or perhaps HMRC online services are not as secure as they think? Of course, when the source email has this address 'GovernmentUK-Gateway-UnitedKingdomReimbursmentsinfo@houwa-f.co.jp' . I decided not to click on the link to reclaim my overpayment. And who has ever heard of the tax man giving money back....

                  luckily I am blessed with the talent of trusting no-one.

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                  • #10
                    Ok well i'll tell you what has worked for me. It appears that lots of these calls are linked to say a mainframe or working list (call it what you will) shared by a group. Show them you are bonkers rather than fully compus mentis. Whenever they rang me i stopped them straight away and asked them if I could ask a question first before they started. They would say yes, then I would say 'do you believe there is life on other planets'. They either put the phone down straight away or even asked me if I wanted taking off their call list!! Problem sorted - don't think I've have had one sales or other call within the last 9mths

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by MarkM View Post
                      Ok well i'll tell you what has worked for me. It appears that lots of these calls are linked to say a mainframe or working list (call it what you will) shared by a group. Show them you are bonkers rather than fully compus mentis. Whenever they rang me i stopped them straight away and asked them if I could ask a question first before they started. They would say yes, then I would say 'do you believe there is life on other planets'. They either put the phone down straight away or even asked me if I wanted taking off their call list!! Problem sorted - don't think I've have had one sales or other call within the last 9mths
                      Thanks for making me get coffee all over my computer, going to try this one for sure.

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                      • #12
                        These w*****s soon get off the line when they realise you are wasting their time. They obviously get paid for the number of calls they make. Must be sad hard up individuals to make call after call to people who dont want to hear from them, and take all the abuse thrown at them. It does not help their case that in most cases they cant even speak good English, and the phone line connection is often rubbish. If I have a bit of time I sometime wind them up a bit. Then put the number in call blocker.
                        If you are uncertain about the number and want to find more, this web site https://who-called.co.uk/ usually has some info. You can also report them with the ICO https://ico.org.uk/concerns/nuisance...uisance-calls/

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                        • #13
                          I'll do what MarkM suggested, once I get back home from visiting the Starship Enterprise! They had a collision with the Tardis when it's timing slipped!

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