Discussion
Colleague of mine was just telling me about a phone call her husband had from, supposedly, HMRC. They left a message on the answer machine asking him to call them back urgently. He however thought HMRC won't just call you out of the blue without first sending some kind of written correspondence. So he ignored it.
Next day, he did indeed receive a letter from HMRC. Now whether this was a legit letter or not I don't know. It could have been a coincidence and a bit of good timing. I suspect the latter. The letter was about his recently deceased fathers tax affairs..i.e. making sure it was all in order. So it could be legit I don't know. Anyway, the HMRC called again the next day and left a message. He, having received this letter from HMRC, dutifully returned the call.
He was answered pretty rudely and the guy picking the phone up didn't introduce himself as anything, just a confused sounding "Hello?". He (the husband) asked for the lady who left the message. When she came to the phone she then rabbited on about a boat load of HMRC rules, said his tax affairs weren't correct, that he had a second company on the sly doing dodgy tax stuff, that they knew about it, that he owed over £3k to HMRC and that there was a warrant for his arrest based on the outstanding tax. Oh and he had just 45 minutes to decide how he was going to pay back the £3k.
Obviously sensing this is a bit of wind up he asked about the letter....which was nothing to do with what they were calling about. That comes from Head Office they said, nothing to do with them. So he asked to be put through to head office before going any further.
Click.
Phone line dead.
He's reported it to the fraud people.
Pretty Brazen!
Next day, he did indeed receive a letter from HMRC. Now whether this was a legit letter or not I don't know. It could have been a coincidence and a bit of good timing. I suspect the latter. The letter was about his recently deceased fathers tax affairs..i.e. making sure it was all in order. So it could be legit I don't know. Anyway, the HMRC called again the next day and left a message. He, having received this letter from HMRC, dutifully returned the call.
He was answered pretty rudely and the guy picking the phone up didn't introduce himself as anything, just a confused sounding "Hello?". He (the husband) asked for the lady who left the message. When she came to the phone she then rabbited on about a boat load of HMRC rules, said his tax affairs weren't correct, that he had a second company on the sly doing dodgy tax stuff, that they knew about it, that he owed over £3k to HMRC and that there was a warrant for his arrest based on the outstanding tax. Oh and he had just 45 minutes to decide how he was going to pay back the £3k.
Obviously sensing this is a bit of wind up he asked about the letter....which was nothing to do with what they were calling about. That comes from Head Office they said, nothing to do with them. So he asked to be put through to head office before going any further.
Click.
Phone line dead.
He's reported it to the fraud people.
Pretty Brazen!
Otispunkmeyer said:
HMRC letter about deceased parent was indeed legit. So some very good/coincidental timing there otherwise he wouldn't have ever bothered to ring them back!
Possible "inside job" with staff at HMRC selling on information to scammers once letters are due to be sent out ? Too much of a coincidence in my book so might be worth a call to HMRC to let them know what happened. As if by magic ... http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/alert-hmrc-a...
"Fraudsters are contacting victims in three ways:
Voicemails: Fraudsters are leaving victims automated voicemails saying that they owe HMRC unpaid taxes. When victims call back on the number provided, they are told that there is a warrant out in their name and if they don’t pay, the police will arrest them."
"Fraudsters are contacting victims in three ways:
Voicemails: Fraudsters are leaving victims automated voicemails saying that they owe HMRC unpaid taxes. When victims call back on the number provided, they are told that there is a warrant out in their name and if they don’t pay, the police will arrest them."
I had a series of similar phishing calls concerning a dissolved umbrella company from several years ago.
In all the calls the voices had strong Indian accents and often a poor grasp of English, the gist of the conversations -
Them: Can I speak to X.
Me: I think you have wrong number.
Them: What is your name? (puts me on guard)
Me: You called me, you should know my name.
Them: This is 'inland revenue' I need your name. (menacing tone of voice)
(This first concrete clue this was fishy, didn't even know HMRC proper name, the menacing tone voice probably makes many fall over themselves to cooperate)
Me: Why?
Them: Is this company-name.
Me: That Company has been dissolved for years, 'inland revenue' and companies house know this.
Them: you still owe some tax on this company. (They showed poor grasp of distinction between corp and personal taxation)
Them: What is your name?
Me: The 'inland revenue' know my name.
Them: Can we speak to the person in charge of company Y.
Me: That would be me, but company-name doesn't exist any more.
Them: What is your name.
Me: Inland revenue and companies house for that matter, know my name.
Me: Who would that be?
Them: Again mention of person X.
(Conversations went on in a similar way with them trying to get my name and other mostly personal details and me trying to force more mistakes and generally waste their time for my own amusement)
On occasions I would interrupt and say, sorry I've got to go, I have an important meeting with Richard Branson, Alan Sugar or whichever famous Businessman was currently in the news. This probably perpetuated the calls with them thinking they had a big phish on the hook
After a while I got bored of stringing them along and would say send a letter to last registered address of company, I will receive it and respond in writing.
Needless to say no letters ever arrived and the calls dried up after I started cutting them off once I got bored.
In all the calls the voices had strong Indian accents and often a poor grasp of English, the gist of the conversations -
Them: Can I speak to X.
Me: I think you have wrong number.
Them: What is your name? (puts me on guard)
Me: You called me, you should know my name.
Them: This is 'inland revenue' I need your name. (menacing tone of voice)
(This first concrete clue this was fishy, didn't even know HMRC proper name, the menacing tone voice probably makes many fall over themselves to cooperate)
Me: Why?
Them: Is this company-name.
Me: That Company has been dissolved for years, 'inland revenue' and companies house know this.
Them: you still owe some tax on this company. (They showed poor grasp of distinction between corp and personal taxation)
Them: What is your name?
Me: The 'inland revenue' know my name.
Them: Can we speak to the person in charge of company Y.
Me: That would be me, but company-name doesn't exist any more.
Them: What is your name.
Me: Inland revenue and companies house for that matter, know my name.
Me: Who would that be?
Them: Again mention of person X.
(Conversations went on in a similar way with them trying to get my name and other mostly personal details and me trying to force more mistakes and generally waste their time for my own amusement)
On occasions I would interrupt and say, sorry I've got to go, I have an important meeting with Richard Branson, Alan Sugar or whichever famous Businessman was currently in the news. This probably perpetuated the calls with them thinking they had a big phish on the hook
After a while I got bored of stringing them along and would say send a letter to last registered address of company, I will receive it and respond in writing.
Needless to say no letters ever arrived and the calls dried up after I started cutting them off once I got bored.
4x4Tyke said:
I had a series of similar phishing calls concerning a dissolved umbrella company from several years ago.
In all the calls the voices had strong Indian accents and often a poor grasp of English, the gist of the conversations -
Them: Can I speak to X.
Me: I think you have wrong number.
Them: What is your name? (puts me on guard)
Me: You called me, you should know my name.
Them: This is 'inland revenue' I need your name. (menacing tone of voice)
(This first concrete clue this was fishy, didn't even know HMRC proper name, the menacing tone voice probably makes many fall over themselves to cooperate)
Me: Why?
Them: Is this company-name.
Me: That Company has been dissolved for years, 'inland revenue' and companies house know this.
Them: you still owe some tax on this company. (They showed poor grasp of distinction between corp and personal taxation)
Them: What is your name?
Me: The 'inland revenue' know my name.
Them: Can we speak to the person in charge of company Y.
Me: That would be me, but company-name doesn't exist any more.
Them: What is your name.
Me: Inland revenue and companies house for that matter, know my name.
Me: Who would that be?
Them: Again mention of person X.
(Conversations went on in a similar way with them trying to get my name and other mostly personal details and me trying to force more mistakes and generally waste their time for my own amusement)
On occasions I would interrupt and say, sorry I've got to go, I have an important meeting with Richard Branson, Alan Sugar or whichever famous Businessman was currently in the news. This probably perpetuated the calls with them thinking they had a big phish on the hook
After a while I got bored of stringing them along and would say send a letter to last registered address of company, I will receive it and respond in writing.
Needless to say no letters ever arrived and the calls dried up after I started cutting them off once I got bored.
Umbrellas really need to be made out of water resistant material or they will dissolve in the rain. In all the calls the voices had strong Indian accents and often a poor grasp of English, the gist of the conversations -
Them: Can I speak to X.
Me: I think you have wrong number.
Them: What is your name? (puts me on guard)
Me: You called me, you should know my name.
Them: This is 'inland revenue' I need your name. (menacing tone of voice)
(This first concrete clue this was fishy, didn't even know HMRC proper name, the menacing tone voice probably makes many fall over themselves to cooperate)
Me: Why?
Them: Is this company-name.
Me: That Company has been dissolved for years, 'inland revenue' and companies house know this.
Them: you still owe some tax on this company. (They showed poor grasp of distinction between corp and personal taxation)
Them: What is your name?
Me: The 'inland revenue' know my name.
Them: Can we speak to the person in charge of company Y.
Me: That would be me, but company-name doesn't exist any more.
Them: What is your name.
Me: Inland revenue and companies house for that matter, know my name.
Me: Who would that be?
Them: Again mention of person X.
(Conversations went on in a similar way with them trying to get my name and other mostly personal details and me trying to force more mistakes and generally waste their time for my own amusement)
On occasions I would interrupt and say, sorry I've got to go, I have an important meeting with Richard Branson, Alan Sugar or whichever famous Businessman was currently in the news. This probably perpetuated the calls with them thinking they had a big phish on the hook
After a while I got bored of stringing them along and would say send a letter to last registered address of company, I will receive it and respond in writing.
Needless to say no letters ever arrived and the calls dried up after I started cutting them off once I got bored.
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