Money saving guru Martin Lewis has issued a specific warning about receiving scam calls - after one targeted him. The financial advice expert was called by an automated system which claimed it was from the HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) - and decided to play along.
He was told that he should press the number 1 - which he did. Martin told his twitter followers: “Just got a scam automated call from ‘HMRC’ on my mobile. Electronic voice with US accent telling me I hadn’t replied to a letter and legal action was being started... “press 1 to urgently speak to an agent”.
“Decided to play along and see what happened. Pressed 1, man answered saying HMRC, I said “Hello can you tell me which HMRC office you are part of please. that was enough. He rang off. No fun at all!”
However his followers were concerned that by actually pressing 1 he had agreed to a premium rate call and would be charged. Anonomouse asked: “Is there not a thing where you press the number and it redirects you, but it’s a premium number that actually charges you??”
After a number of people asked the same question Martin pledged to investigate and contacted Ofcom. He explained that the key thing not to do was call back.
Mr Lewis said: “If you are called by a scammer and asked to press a button (eg press 1 to...) it is impossible for you to be charged a premium rate call. Many said they were worried about this, having had similar calls to the HMRC scam one I tweeted about yesterday. So I wanted to clear it up (and I’ve double checked with Ofgem).
“However if you call them, or if you click to call back after they’ve left a voicemail or from a missed call, you may be charged a premium rate. So the best thing if you’re in any doubt is exercise caution and not engage.
“Frankly anyone calling you out of the blue to tell you you must take urgent or secret financial (or tech) action is almost certainly a criminal scammer (common ones are from HMRC, Microsoft, delivery firms, NHS). Be very wary.
“Any reputable organisation will have a way you can contact them (find their number independently, don’t use one from the potential scam call) to check if the call is real, if you’re worried. These people are clever, nasty, conscience-less criminals who prey on inattention, fear and vulnerability. The sooner laws are tightened to stop them having access to mass calling, and social media sites, the better.”
Regulator Ofcom says: “Sometimes we receive phone calls, messages and emails from scammers. These are criminal acts, usually aimed at encouraging you to hand over money, or your personal or financial information.
“It can be hard to tell if a spam text, email or call is from a legitimate company or a scammer. For example, scammers could pretend to be from your bank or building society, or they might claim to be from your phone or broadband company.
“Other examples include criminals claiming to represent HM Revenue and Customs, the NHS, delivery companies, or even Ofcom.” For more advice on scam calls visit Ofcom website here.
