"HMRC" telephone scam - and other scams

[alison]

I have just received a phone call: an automated message purporting to be from HMRC claiming that they have launched an investigation into me, and that I should press 1 to speak to my "case officer".  I'm really concerned about this - someone could have a heart attack or something on hearing this - so thought I'd get the message out.

 

Incidentally, HMRC has a page on scams here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phishing-and-bogus-emails-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples/phishing-emails-and-bogus-contact-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples

[John Mallinson]

Thanks for the warning.

[taxi4ballet]

From what I know (from a professional occupation point of view in case you were wondering!!) is that if HMRC decides to investigate somebody, the last thing they would want to do is tell them what is going on.

[alison]

My thought exactly, taxi!  Ludicrous, but enough to panic someone, no doubt.  HMRC has an address for you to report online scams to, but apparently not for anything "old-school".

[SMabbutt]

You can report telephone scams to Action Fraud http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-phone-call-warning-feb11

[alison]

Thanks.  But I still don't see anything appropriate for reporting scam phone calls.  I did make a serious attempt to report it, but gave up when there weren't any appropriate options as far as I could see.

[Anon2]

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

 

I found this through Citizens Advice when my mother was targeted. They investigated and responded. 

[alison]

Tried that.  There were no appropriate options.

[taxi4ballet]

I've come to the conclusion that people are only going to phone for one reason. They want to get money out of you one way or another, either by selling something you don't want, a service you don't need, or they are just wanting to steal your cash.

 

They wouldn't be bothering otherwise.

Edited May 18, 2017 by taxi4ballet

[alison]

Yesterday, my mobile rang while I was on the bus, and I was unable to answer.  It was from a "private number", and a message was left on my voicemail.  A very efficient and professional-sounding male said that it was the Met Police and that my phone had been silently dialling 999, and please could I "secure" it, was I think the word he used.

 

There's no call record of 999 being dialled on my phone, which confuses me - and I'm quite surprised that it would have been able to do so without input from me, unless I'd happened to have put my PIN in.  Could this have been a scam?  If so, what on earth would be the benefit?

[Jan McNulty]

In my experience scam calls don't usually leave voice mails.

 

However, my "locked" phone has called people and I've had calls from the phones of friends.  I don't know how it happens.

 

Recently, when the weather was warm I'd taken to shoving my phone in my trouser pocket.  I got home recently to find a near 8 minute video of the inside of my pocket!!  I've no idea how that happened.

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, alison said:

Yesterday, my mobile rang while I was on the bus, and I was unable to answer.  It was from a "private number", and a message was left on my voicemail.  A very efficient and professional-sounding male said that it was the Met Police and that my phone had been silently dialling 999, and please could I "secure" it, was I think the word he used.

 

There's no call record of 999 being dialled on my phone, which confuses me - and I'm quite surprised that it would have been able to do so without input from me, unless I'd happened to have put my PIN in.  Could this have been a scam?  If so, what on earth would be the benefit?

Yes, that definitely sounds like a scam. Do not click on any links sent by texts or emails or WhatsApp from numbers or people you don't recognise. Even if you're overly suspicious a true friend or diligent colleague/associate would nor mind if you ignored it and rang them to check. The police have repeatedly said they would never call or text members of the public and ask them to "secure" anything,click anything or send anything (eg money)- they would do so in person. 

 

It wouldn't be too weird to call your local police station to ask if this could really happen- that someone could have cloned your number and used it to call 999, or that someone could call you and pretend to be the police. I don't  think it's possible that your actual phone could call a number secretly with no record of it on the phone (as opposed to you or someone you've given your phone to doing it). 

 

They might be banking on you trying to call the number back to ask what's  going on and using that to hack your phone. The benefit is that criminals would hack your phone, eg if you pay for items or do online banking using your phone. Your passwords or PIN numbers can be easily recorded in this way. 

Edited May 30 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

In my experience scam calls don't usually leave voice mails.

 

However, my "locked" phone has called people and I've had calls from the phones of friends.  I don't know how it happens.

 

Recently, when the weather was warm I'd taken to shoving my phone in my trouser pocket.  I got home recently to find a near 8 minute video of the inside of my pocket!!  I've no idea how that happened.

Pocket dialling/clicking. You may have accidentally clicked on the camera - many phones have a swipe shortcut to take pictures or videos without needing to enter a password to unlock it. You can't get into the rest of the phone eg emails, phone numbers, other photos, etc and you can't edit your photo or video- you can only film or photograph something and you can delete what you filmed immediately but you can't delete an old photo or old video without unlocking the phone first. 

[alison]

On 30/05/2025 at 13:46, alison said:

Yesterday, my mobile rang while I was on the bus, and I was unable to answer.  It was from a "private number", and a message was left on my voicemail.  A very efficient and professional-sounding male said that it was the Met Police and that my phone had been silently dialling 999, and please could I "secure" it, was I think the word he used.

 

There's no call record of 999 being dialled on my phone, which confuses me - and I'm quite surprised that it would have been able to do so without input from me, unless I'd happened to have put my PIN in.  Could this have been a scam?  If so, what on earth would be the benefit?

 

It appears to have been genuine.  A few days later, I was aware that a phone call was going on in my bag - this time it was a woman, asking whether I was able to talk freely and telling me what to do if I couldn't.

 

I took a look into the depths of my mobile phone this evening, and discovered that there are a few emergency settings which my phone was set to, including, by the looks of it, dialling 999 if the power button is pressed 5 times in a row.  I guess that must be what had happened while the phone was in my bag   Needless to say, I've now disabled that option.