Customs Scam

Rockrose | 06:54 Wed 16th Oct 2019 | Spam & Scams

8 Answers

Not quite sure where to post this but wanted to make people aware.

I had a call on my personal mobile where they used my used name not my full official name.
They claimed to be from Customs and Excise and were phoning me to give me a last chance to may my outstanding taxes before the police arrested me later that day.
Now i must admit to having some fun with this call and stringing them along without giving further information, but, they were very convincing and if you are not aware of how HMRC work - you may easily fall for this
Apparently if I paid the £5K they would call the police and cancel the arrest warrant.
When I queried why the police were arresting me and not Customs they claimed that customs do not have any arrest powers!
So, please pass this onto those that you know are vunerable - HMRC will not phone up out of the blue and tell you that there is money outstanding on a Tax account without writing loads of times before hand.
Thank you

Constant Calls From *beneficial*

Is This A Scam ?

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roopower

This has happened to me several times. Very unsettling for vulnerable people. I reported it to HMRC, they said the only way they contact people is by post. Interesting that it was a recorded message so therefore the arrest warrant number would cover numerous people. The second time I had received a cheque from HMRC for overpaid taxes.

lady-janine

I've had the same thing and reported it to police so they could make local old peoples, etc., groups aware and then get members and known vulnerable folks aware.

Again they did not use my real name or status.

Rockrose

Question Author

For me it wasn't a recorded call it was a live person who had a response to everything I threw at him - I obviously have knowledge of HMRC and he had a response for everything - unsettling for others just made me mad!

jim360

Had a similar call recently. Started with a prerecorded message, I let it play out because I was mildly amused. Never went beyond that. But remarkable what lengths these people will go to.

There's a "Spam and Scams" board I think, hopefully will be moved there soon.