Scam calls from HMRC

I don't normally post about these things but this call annoyed me this morning and I suspect someone will get caught.

The call came this morning and was purportedly from a company called DRS and started like this.

Good morning, is this Merchandise Branded? I said yep and asked who was calling. He said was calling from a company called DRS and swiftly asked me if I was Mark Scarlett. I then asked who he was again intentionally avoiding answering his question and this time he said he was from DRS and was calling on behalf of the HMRC.

I then started to have doubts about the call as HMRC never call you directly, in fact if you've ever tried calling them you can easily lose 30 mins of your life trying to get through to the right department.

I then told him that I doubted he was calling on behalf of HMRC as they don't retain third party companies to act on their behalf, but he was adamant that he was calling from DRS on their behalf.

I then asked his name and the company website which is when I knew it was definitely a scam call as he responded by stating 'I can't give out that information because of GDPR rules'. I actually laughed out loud and asked him to repeat that for me, which he did. And if I didn't know better, I'd have believed him as he sounded very plausible and spoke with a lot of confidence and assuredness.

He then stated that the call was of the utmost importance and that it was imperative that he spoke with the Director of the business. I told him I would not be proceeding any further with this call as I believed it was a scam call due to the fact that he wouldn't give me his company website, his name, all correspondence from HMRC that I receive is through the post or my accountants and that I personally know one of the foremost experts in the world in GDPR David ? Clarke FBCS CITP CCISO . As such I know enough about this subject that those rules do not prevent him telling me his name or website.

I also tried to 'Google' DRS, HMRC in Liverpool as the phone number began 0151 but nothing came up at all whilst I was talking with him. At this point I stated that I would not be taking this conversation any further telling him goodbye and hanging up.

I then checked the number he called from and the post result is pasted below.

Who Called Me

https://who-called.co.uk ? Number ? 01513293701

01513293701 This number, primarily associated with HMRC Scam, is a landline owned by AQL Wholesale Ltd, and is located in Liverpool, England.

I felt vindicated by the above result and decided to post it here as I'm sure there a lot of people completing their self-assessment and VAT returns and so would assume the call is valid and proceed. I'm no expert on this subject but I'm getting more and more of these calls and this one was definitely one of the better ones, but my advice is to always try to qualify the caller, get as much detail as possible and do not give out your bank details, company details, addresses, VAT or company registration number.

Whether you answer the phone on your behalf, for your employer or for your own business be careful if it's from a number you don't recognise or if you have any doubts about it, hang up and inform someone and/or speak to your line manager. I've also reported this number as a SCAM number by doing a one ring dial from my phone, cancelling it then marking it as a Suspected SCAM or FRAUD number.

Be careful out there, business is hard enough without being scammed...