Rise in scammers using landline phone calls to impersonate HMRC
There has been an increase in the number of scammers using landline phone calls after a crackdown on con emails and mobile phone texts.
HM Revenue and Customs received 60,000 reports of phone scams between July 2018 and January 2019, which is more than three times the amount received in the first-half of last year.
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It said that conmen pretend to be tax officials and threaten legal action or jail.
The authority in charge of UK taxes said that scammers were turning to more traditional methods of conning people such as a cold-calling, using landline numbers that are publicly available.
It also said it had shutdown more than 400 phone lines being used by scammers in the past year in a crackdown with Ofcom.
More than 25m homes in the UK have a landline and are therefore at risk from these scams.
Treasury minister Mel Stride advised anyone who receives one of these calls to hang up and report the number immediately.
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"If you receive a suspicious call to your landline from someone purporting to be from HMRC which threatens legal action, to put you in jail, or payment using vouchers: hang-up and report it to HMRC who can work to take them off the network," he said.
HMRC said it would only call and ask for payments from people who were already aware they had debt, either because they have previously received a letter or the person had said they owe tax or submitted a self-assessment return.