Hampshire Police have recently received information that residents in the Andover area are receiving nuisance phone calls in the attempt to deceive and extract money from the elderly and vulnerable by pretending to be from HMRC.
The telephone scammers operate by phoning the recipient and leaving a recorded message, allegedly from HMRC, stating that HMRC is bringing a lawsuit against the individual and is in the process of suing them. The recipient is then asked to phone back and press “1” to speak to the officer dealing with the case. The automated machine will then put the caller through to the scammer who will attempt to collect the caller’s bank details.
Andover Police would like to ask all residents to be mindful of this financially-devastating scam and pass on awareness to other family members and friends in particular who may potentially fall victim to this scamming method.
A Police spokesperson said, “If you do receive a call similar to that described above, do not give out any bank or credit card details over the phone and end the phone call immediately.”
“This alert is not intended to alarm or frighten, but to inform and bring to your attention information about a telephone scam currently being operated by criminals.”
Andover Police would ask that if you, or a person you know, does receive a suspected scam call, then please call the Action Fraud centre on 0300 123 2040 or visit their website at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ to report the attempted fraudulent actions and pass on all relevant details to the call handler.
