Fraudsters have been tackled by HMRC, with a focus on the use of premium rate phone numbers for services HMRC provide for free. The reported fraudsters create fake websites for HMRC and then look to charge for what are actually free services from HMRC, through re-direction to premium rate phone numbers. HMRC has confirmed that its genuine 0300 numbers are mainly free, or at least charged only at the local landline rate.
Mel Stride, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said, ‘We know that HMRC is the most spoofed government brand, as criminals try to take advantage of the fact that everyone has some involvement with the tax authority. In this particular case, scammers try to dupe the public into paying large sums for services that are available for free or low cost.’
She added, ‘This is a brazen con, charging premium rates whilst simply redirecting calls to the real HMRC numbers that are available at low or no cost. It is a testament to the hard work of HMRC that they have prevented criminals extracting £2.4 million from the public.’