IS THIS A SCAM?

[Practicalpam]

We have a small business with an accountant that deals with all our tax etc. We have just had a call from a court appointed bailiff saying that we owe £2000 to HMRC. He will send round bailiffs this afternoon to our accountants address as that is our registered address. Neither we nor the accountant are aware of any Corporation Tax, Income Tax or VAT that we owe and indeed our accountant has checked with all HMRC debt control and we do not owe anything. We have not received any letters asking for payment. Is this a scam?

Sounds like it to me!!

Thanks Coco. It's just strange as he has not asked us to pay, and sounds very genuine.

How strange.
Could it be someone being malicious ?
What number did they call from? Have you checked it?
The main thing is you have nothing to worry about so try not to let it upset you.

Bailiffs would always prefer cash to goods - did they leave any details you can call back on to get paperwork, numbers, anything?

They should surely have visited to talk to you about the debt first - I know when I had to use debt recovery with someone it was a fairly long process, and there were plenty of chances for them to pay by cash

And when HMRC thought I owed them 14k (!) they called me, they sent me a letter, and were nothing but helpful (once I'd paid a smaller fine - which I got back once it was all sorted - error filling in tax return)

Thanks Jackie. The number was withheld and he said he could not give out his number. He did give a number which is the Self assessment helpline at HMRC. Hope it was not someone being malicious!

Couldn't give out his number!? Nah - that's just weird.

They should be able to give you a reference and a number/office to call - why would they want to muck about seizing goods if they don't have to?

Thanks Chunky. Yes we thought it was strange that he did not give us a way to pay or contact him. He was also very vague about what the payment was relating to.

Very bizarre, doesn't sound genuine at all. Don't part with any money!

Total scam by the sound of it, I would be talking to the local police in case anyone does turn up.

It's a scam. You'd get letters from HMRC first, it wouldn't just come out of the blue...

You would definitely get a letter or two first.

Also, I wouldn't ring the phone number they gave you because it could be fake.

Perhaps Also ring the courts and desk to them.

No one would send biliffs eithout any effort for payment beforehand.