To think this was a scam and to have hung up?

[looseddaughter]

I'm sure it was but feel a bit unnerved now. Had a phone call claiming t be from HMRC accusing me of committing tax fraud and saying there is a warrant out for my arrest and my assets will be frozen (bank account seems fine - just checked it). The man sounded foreign and it wasn't convincing at all. I ended it when he kept saying 'why did you do such a thing, m'am?'

I didn't give any details except confirming my house number and postcode, which I obviously regret now. Did I do right to end it and can I report it to someone?

Just to re-emphasise what someone has posted below.

1. Scammers can fake the number they are calling from. Do not believe just because it looks like your banks phone number it is your bank. Ring off. Leave for 10 minutes. Use a different phone if possible to ring your bank.

2. And train everyone I your household that if your account is compromised your bank can freeze it....you do not have to transfer your money out!

3. And to hover your curser over email addresses so you can see the real recipient.

4. If a relative is vulnerable and maybe taken in get them to ALWAYS use an answer machine. That way they can decide who to call back, in their own time.

And like one poster below, I too am having lots of fun with the acting skills. Had lovely one yesterday re a “have you been in an accident call”...... on the phone for ages explaining a horse that had bolted and crashed into me causing 4 car crash....they were well annoyed when I mentioned the horse had a massive single horn in the middle of it’s head 10 minutes into the call 😀

Sometimes its circumstantial how easy you can get taken in.

I had a problem with my phone line and internet so had been in communication with BT most of the day sorting it out. Just by coincidence (OR WAS IT?) I got a scam call saying they knew I had problems with my internet and it was about to be cut off. It was a few moments before it clicked that it was a scam. In any other circumstance I'd have spotted it instantly.

@CentrifugalBumblePuppy
I laughed out loud at your post!

I have been known to scam the scammers. Especially the Microsoft/Windows ones.

Them - 'Madam, your operating system is in danger and you will lose all your have on your computer, it is a Windows problem and we can help. Can you please open windows.... and we'll talk you through what to do'
(i.e. take control of my laptop and skim off all my passwords etc)

I then spend as long as possible being very doddery and stupid. And at the end as they are getting frustrated, I say... 'look I've done everything you've asked me to do, but I'm too cold to talk any more as my windows are open as you told me to open them'

🤣😂

I had an automated message saying my name was associated with tax fraud and if I disconnected the call I’d be arrested within a week 🤣 needless to say I have not!

I got a phone call, usually I don't answer a number I don't recognise but I was expecting a call from my GP for a phone consultation. It was a recorded message saying there is a criminal case registered against my name for tax fraud. I hung up without listening to the whole message but no doubt there would have been a plea to phone x number to discuss, or 'you can prevent this going to court by paying x amount, please provide your bank details ' . Mentioned it to a colleague with a police/fraud background- definitely a scam

If you can talk to someone without a million options and the insult of being told your call is important they are probably scammers.

So true

Leaving all other things aside, if you were due to be arrested, they would hardly phone you up first to warn you... they'd just come and arrest you!

Whilst I’m all for thwarting scammers, please don’t play time wasting games with cold callers ringing about car accidents etc. They are an almighty PITA if you have got onto their call list in error but they are not crooks. They are people at the very bottom of the employment tree trying to earn a living in a very low paid job and they will get paid by results. If what they say is of no Interest to you say that and hang up. Let them move on to the next call that might earn them something.

Please note I have no vested interest in this. I do not and have never done this sort of work but when money was tight and I was desperate I have considered it. Luckily for me, something better came along but not everyone is that lucky. It’s a soul destroying job and it won’t be made easier by some smart arse wasting your time.

Waste the time of scammers all you like but be kind to cold callers.

The thing that annoys me most about this is the fact that our telephone system makes number spoofing possible. You'd think it would be trivially easy to implement a technical solution and it would be one of the single biggest countermeasures against telephone fraud. OFCOM claim to be working on it but they've been saying that for years and nothing changes. I ended up buying a telephone with call blocking functionality and after quickly realising that blacklisting numbers was an exercise in futility I've gone for whitelisting instead - only numbers in my address book get put through and anyone else has to leave a message. I've gone from dozens of scam calls a month to just about none.

Watch this video OP. It's American but the principals are the same.

You were certainly not wrong to hang up on him. However you must NEVER pass over your details to a caller. NEVER even confirm whether the details they may have are correct.

As posters above have said, in the few circumstances that HMRC may contact you by email, they will never ask you to send them details. The email will be along the lines of "you have a new message, please log in to your account".

They are an almighty PITA if you have got onto their call list in error but they are not crooks. They are people at the very bottom of the employment tree trying to earn a living in a very low paid job and they will get paid by results.

Of course they are crooks. They know exactly what they are doing and being at the "bottom of the employment tree" is no excuse, especially when their victims are invariably the more vulnerable in society. I doubt you would excuse muggers or burglars just because they were struggling to make ends meet so why excuse these scum? They can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned.

Always tell them you'll call them back from the number on their website, and from a different phone. Any genuine call will be pleased to hear you're taking security seriously. If they object, it tells you everything they need to know.

I had it recently, I just hung up.

Thecobwebsarewinning How are they not crooks? How can someone tell me I’m entitled to money for something that has never happened. It’s fraud, pure and simple. I usually ask them if it was the accident I died in, that shuts them up. And as for ME “wasting their time”, they phoned me, I didn’t ask them to call.

Waste the time of scammers all you like but be kind to cold callers

I do agree with you up to a point, but being ex-d, not giving my number out, being on TPS (a toothless organisation) means I am incredibly frustrated at cold callers. I know they're just doing a job but their company has been sold an illegal list of telephone numbers to call, of which I'm one.

And I used to work nights, so getting a call at 8am after just getting to sleep was horrendous. Not much sympathy for them then!

I just feel sorry for the elderly and vulnerable.

Definitely a scam. Having dealt with HMRC over a real tax discrepancy - they tend to write to you, unlikely to phone.
Taking you to court is a long way down the process (we didn't get anywhere near that far) - as they like a) you to pay the bill yourself - cheapest option, b) if you are awkward they can give you a fine, c) they can often get the money via your tax code (much cheaper than court).
But actually HMRC on the whole are very polite and professional.

I got yelled at when I was phoned about by viewing of pornography - he didn't believe that I knew for sure I hadn't and neither had anyone on my computer.

Another scam is BT Openreach about Internet. I had a Daniel who started telling me about my router. I said fuck off you scamming bastard and hung up. 10 mins later I had a call from someone else from Openreach Mumbai office. I gave him a hard time by telling him he was talking bullshit as I was just using my internet and there was bugger all wrong with it. I asked him to tell me who my internet provider is (it's not BT) and he hung up.

I got home from a months holiday, I’m retired, to find a message from 3 weeks earlier saying if I didn’t get in touch to fix my internet urgently it would be cut off within 24 hours.
Of course my Internet was still working fine.

Since I gave my name & phone number, per COVID regulations, I have been getting spurious text messages about unpaid bills (URL embedded for further details) & calls from an unknown numbers.

I tried one of the missed unknown numbers & got a system message that it does not exist. Highly unlikely technical glitch, but I am now more careful than before.

I have had loads of scam emails and text
I have had Netflix, PayPal, licensing , HMRC.
Scammers work on the premise that at least one individual out of thirty will fall for the scam

I overheard my husband telling a scam caller that God would punish him for making these calls, and then he put the phone down without entering into any other conversation.
Tbh if no one speaks straight away when I pick up the phone then I just put it straight down because Inevitably it’s a call centre. I have no qualms about ending a call abruptly if it’s some nonsense call about new windows/boiler/tax fraud/internet./Covid

Yes as others have said HMRC would write to you.
If you ever get anxious that a call like that isn’t legitimate it’s perfectly fine to say you’re going to hang up and call them back on a number you find yourself (on their official website or letters etc) so you can confirm they are who they say they are (even if they’re calling from the same number listed online etc).

Any legit caller from the real HMRC/utility company/bank would understand this. But if they’re desperate to keep you on the phone that’s also a red flag.

And as a general rule legit places wouldn’t ever ask for money, or bank details or to access your PC remotely. So if anyone ever asks this, end the call immediately.

HMRC will only ring you with prior agreement, the initial contact is ALWAYS via post.

If you don't know exactly who you're speaking to, tell them to put it in writing or email and then terminate the call. Of course, don't give this information to them.

It's the same as the Windows technical support nonsense. I managed to keep my chap on the line for 20 minutes until he rage quit. Which gave me a little warm feeling.

My fun BT scam one - I got the if you don't contact us we will cut off your phone and internet phone call. Then a few days later I got the "there is something wrong with your line one" and I just told them they were supposed to have cut off my internet - and asking why they hadn't done it yet?
That one got them to hang up on me.

Action Fraud have info on who scams like this can be reported to.

www.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime