There have been a growing number of fraudsters that are ‘cloning’ official telephone numbers to scam individuals and businesses out of money.
The official income tax helpline for HMRC is one of the numbers that have been cloned and is being used to threaten victims by claiming warrants have been issued for their arrest due to unpaid taxes.
The telephone number for HMRC is 0300 200 3300 and fraudsters have been using this number to make calls and leave messages.
HMRC have advised that they will never call you out of the blue asking for money and if you are in doubt, to hang up and contact HMRC.
Due to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies cloning a phone number has become too easy for fraudsters and also difficult for authorities to prevent.
If you have been affected by this, you can make a report to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visiting their website: Action Fraud