HMRC Scam Phone call

[Roy_H]

Telephone number. 07537130915 : A scam purporting to be from HMRC. I Googled the number and there are loads of bad comments about it. They say they have a case against you then ask you to "Press 1 to speak to your case officer" Saw through it straight away so I put the phone down on them. I have BT Call Protect so l added it to my block list. Really annoying and of course frightening to say anyone old and vunerable. Apparently if you do press 1 you are redirected to a voice fishing you for bank details etc.

 

[spin cycle]

had one of those to

 

[suffolksmallholder]

String them along or place the receiver on your desk & go and have a lovely relaxing cuppa . Clock ticks, bills rise. Costs to do this also rise........
SS

 

[DrWazzock]

It's getting to the stage where it's impossible to tell when a call is genuine or not. I told my bank to go and do one for several weeks as it sounded like one of those dodgy calls but it was actually genuine and my account was nearly closed as a result. There is no proper system of identifying genuine callers. There is no proper system of making sure you don't give away confidential information to the wrong people. It's a shambles that has drifted into a mess due to neglect and complacency by the powers that be.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Interesting. My bank would be told to make an appointment for a personal call if I was suspicious. No harm in going into town.
SS

 

[DrWazzock]

Interesting. My bank would be told to make an appointment for a personal call if I was suspicious. No harm in going into town.
SS

I have had a lot of trouble with my bank's wish to run security checks on me. Unfortunately there is nobody at the branch who can help with these matters. It is all handled out of a call centre in India. The staff sound no different from scammers and are about as competent in my experience. They ask a whole series of personal questions, the answers to which, if they fell into the wrong hands, would be excellent material for identity fraud. Very concerning and makes me wish the local branch was still there, where the manager knew every customer. A real problem in the making now. Only a matter of time before a big data leak abroad compromises many customers accounts IMO. But does anybody care?

 

[Princess Pooper]

A friend also had problems with his bank wanting info over the phone he thought it was a scam and it wasn't!

 

[Pilgrimmick]

Hate it when they phone you, but want all that information! Have had it happen several times when the bank have phoned and asked security questions, I just tell them to send me a letter.
They never like it, but always send one in the end.

 

[JWL]

I've got to the point where I don't bother to answer numbers that I don't know. My number is one I've had for quite a number of years and it's way out there in the public domain due to me running my own business a few years ago and it's the point of contact for the club of which I am chairman.
My policy is that if the call is important then they will leave a message on the answerphone. I too allmost had a bucket full of grief off my bank and the mortgage company as a lot of calls that come through a switchboard don't show the number and the biggest gripe I have is those cold callers that call you on numbers coming up with your local area codewhich makes you think that it's a neighbour or a local call.

 

[tepapa]

Not a bank, but i had a vodafone sim once and their sales team rang trying to sell stuff. They wanted me to confirm the password that i had set up on my account to prove it was me, but since they rang me i refused and i wanted them to prove they were actually Vodafone by giving me the password. We hit stalemate, and they weren't happy they couldnt proceed to the sales pitch but they could have been any scammer. It was a genuine vodafone sales team too going off the number.

 

[DrWazzock]

If I am called by the bank I tell them I will call them back on the bank number after having called somebody else to make sure the original caller is off the line. The only problem with this is you can't seem to get back to the original caller and whoever they put you through to seems to have little idea about the purpose of the original call. Full names and extension numbers should be given, but they seem very reticent to give this information, saying only their name is Mr Sharif or whatever.

I too have been asked for passwords and other info even when calling the bank on their number. It's a rubbish system.

 

[DrWazzock]

Now I have been asked by my major UK bank to upload images of my and all of the partners passports and proof of address onto the Internet banking portal. It really is getting silly. These images will presumably be stored and accessible in countries where corruption is a way off life. It's gone too far now IMO. If I don't do this within so many days they will close my account.

 

[Pilgrimmick]

I believe that is illegal. Not sure anybody can insist of a photocopy of a passport.
Check with the passport office.

 

[DrWazzock]

I believe that is illegal. Not sure anybody can insist of a photocopy of a passport.
Check with the passport office.

Thanks. It is a large international bank with UK wide high street branches that is requesting this info. It seems right out of order to me. An identity fraudsters gold mine. They want me to upload jpg images of our passports and utility bills as proof of address. I would expect tens of thousands of other businesses across the UK have been asked same request. But haven't heard any protest from anybody else. It worries me.

 

[7610 super q]

Yes, if you open an account, they will want to photocopy your passport ( to prevent money laundering, don't yer know). I'd say they're a bit behind the times....money laundering is a bit 1970's. Far more attention should be placed on 21st C scamming IMO.
As said, the whole thing is a shambles, and worse, there doesn't seem to be much incentive to do anything about it.
Worse still is the attitude of some (including on here), " If you get scammed, it's your own fault for being so stupid ".

 

[Grassman]

I think it's time consumers set up a password separate to your usual account password. You then ask the bank or whoever to quote it or characters from it.

 

[Cowcalf]

tell them you do not have a passport

 

[sawdust]

tell them you do not have a passport

i don't even have a driving licence with a photo

 

[DrWazzock]

They want a driving licence if not a passport. Tell them I can't drive? Shambolic.

 

[RushesToo]

All important transactions should have 2FA [two factor authentication], They should ask for something your own and something you know. So a text to your phone and a password would meet requirements.
At the moment this is the safest way to deal, but boy is it a PITA.
Anything less then they are not people that you should be doing business with if it involves things that cause serious pain if they go wrong.