HMRC scam that's 'highly sophisticated' will cost £4,000 if you fall for it

A HMRC scam has cost a woman THOUSANDS of pounds - as she opened up about being scammed out of £4,000. It comes as the Trading Standards Service (TSS) urged people here to be extra cautious over impersonation fraud ahea of Christmas.

The woman said she wanted to share the details of what happened to her to “prevent this happening to someone else”. The woman was targeted with a call from a person claiming to be from the HMRC and telling her she owed unpaid tax back in 2020.

In what has been described as a “highly convincing scam”, the victim felt it was a plausible and genuine call. A further follow up was made to the victim from someone claiming to be from her local police station, with the woman threatened with arrest and court action if she did not pay.

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Put under high amounts of pressure and fearing the consequences of not paying during what was a “difficult period” in her life, she transferred the £4,000 to the fraudsters, only to realise shortly afterwards that she had been scammed.

Speaking after she said: “I wanted to tell my story to prevent this happening to someone else. I’m very happily surprised at the result and would like to thank TSS for all their support and help, it wouldn’t have been possible without them. It’s a big deal for me, not just about the money but the emotional impact.”

Yasmin Johnstone of the TSS said: “This scam was highly convincing particularly as they had cloned the genuine telephone number of a local police station and this serves as a stark reminder of the tactics used by scammers to exploit an individual's fears and trust.

"If you receive a similar call do not make any payments or share personal information. Instead, contact the organisation directly using verified contact details.”