Scam or real HMRC? Caller asking for my NI number

[PittPony]

Background: Last financial year, I made some voluntary National Insurance contributions to enhance my future State Pension. HMRC's acknowledgement email said I'd be contacted about it, but gave no date or timescale.
At about 8 am on Bank Holiday Monday, my phone rang. The caller claimed to be from HMRC and said they needed more information; they wanted my NI number and date of birth. First, I used the online Government Gateway when I paid, so all my details are already on the system. Secondly, I'm not gullible enough to give out my personal or financial information over the phone just because someone asks for it. The caller mentioned I could call them, 'HMRC', back on the same number if I felt more comfortable doing that. I phoned the number later that day, and it just went to a recorded message saying that no one was available to take my call.

AIBU to think this is probably a scam and that I should report it to the real HMRC? Or is it normal for HMRC to call people early on Bank Holidays and ask for sensitive information over the phone?

Scam. You can phone the real HMRC. Don't ever do ve anyone that calls you any personal info.

I always say I do not give out information to people who phone me. I tell them I will verify the official phone number and call them from a different phone myself.

Actually not true in this case, many of us booked a callback at the end of the financial year, as the deadline was coming up for paying voluntary contributions for missing NI years. Their systems were overwhelmed by the number of people trying to contact them. So if you've been told that, you ARE expecting a call.

Of course, that's not to say that this wasn't still a scam though, with the number spoofed or something. It did sound very professional, not like a typical scammy call. But then, that could be just more professional scammers!

I’m trying to pay voluntary contributions and registered well before the April 5th deadline. Someone did phone me back, but on a triage basis, and confirmed that they had a huge backlog that they’re trying to wade through. I was told to expect a phone call within eight weeks (although it’s gone beyond that) and that it could be at any time and not just weekday or office hours.

Numbers can be spoofed. I would want to call back using a number published on their website unless the call wasn’t booked with them for a specific time and with some kind of confirmation code/name.

Those saying HMRC never call you - I worked there for 32 years and I rang people all the time!

In fact back in the early years I used to get told off for answering a query by phone rather than getting a letter written (so much quicker and cheaper)! My way caught on as time passed!

For a while we also set up units specifically to ring people to chase up outstanding Tax Returns and Debts.

So they DO ring but you need to have your wits about you

The number can be spoofed but I'd don't believe there's a way that a scammer could interfere with your phone to direct you dialling a legitimate number to them could they?

That's why the advice is to call back yourself and always sensible to dial a known number inbetween the two calls

I had the call back about additional NI contributions and they did ask for my NI number. I didn’t feel comfortable, even though I’d requested the call back as there was no way of verifying it was actually them while on the call. So I rang off and called on a verified number.

People saying to call (actual) HMRC, 'just in case'... I wouldn't bother doing that unless you have an hour spare to do so. Ironically, the scammers would be much easier to get hold of than HMRC themselves.

On land lines it can be a problem to call back on the same line so the advice was to use a different line/number to call back on the public number to be sure the scammer wasn’t still holding your line. As you say from a different number or with another legit call in between is fine.

On mobiles it should be fine to call back yourself but check the official numbers first. The problem is that the number showing up as calling you may not be genuine.

Yes the problem is an HMRC problem to solve.

Saying they will call at some completely random time in the future is inviting people to fall victim to scams unless it has some clear security protocols. This is especially risky when your audience have a requirement to comply with HMRC and know that “calling back” will likely be a lengthy wait ending in “someone will call you”.

Unimpressed if HMRC are not supplying the security protocols to protect us from scammers but not surprised either.

I would be very wary of a phone call from someone who already had my name and phone number asking for my DOB and NI number. No way would I give that information to someone who phoned me. There have been lots of warnings everywhere recently about a new lot of HMRC scams.

Definitely a scam. HMRC don't ring people up out of working hours.

@User27563 True, but they asked for my full NI number, dob, and then address because "all they had" was my name and mobile phone number. If they'd asked to confirm that my NI number contained the letter "A", for example, it'd have felt less scammy, even if they'd only have a 1 in 26 chance of getting that right.

So based on your votes, 99% think it was probably a scam. If it wasn’t, then HRMC need to seriously up their game!

So true 🤣

This is madness!

I’ve had HRMC call me back this year. It was following up a query due to tax payable on income on a deceased relative’s estate. I’d spoken to the help line and they needed to get advice from another team. So the advisor asked me to suggest a code word, and when he rang me back (v promptly) he gave me the code word so I knew it was them.

Why????????

Because it is now very hard to tell a genuine call from a scam one in the first instance, which is why banks, various financial institutions, the police etc. all advise not to get sucked into giving your details out online or over a random phone call.

Civil servants working on a bank holiday? 😆

Scam! There’s been a warrant out for my arrest by the HMRC for quite some time, perhaps I should get onto that 😜 😛

that you got told off for answering a query by phone rather than letter! Glad things moved on!

I like where you can log on to the app and speak via a chat function; then there is no guessing