Phone scams drop 83% in a year across South West
HM Revenue and Customs have released the figures
There's been an 83% drop in reported phone scams in the South West over the last year, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
522 cases were called in to them in June 2022, compared to 3,110 in the previous June.
The 25 to 34 age group seem to be the most affected, with 121 reports coming in from the South West in the most recent stats.
HMRC say they've been making 'significant efforts to tackle the problem and protect the public'.
They've worked with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to stop HMRC’s helpline numbers from being spoofed by fraudsters, who can no longer appear to be calling from an HMRC number.
They also have a dedicated customer protection team working on cyber and phone phishing scams around the clock.
Kelly Paterson, HMRC’s Chief Information and Security Officer, said:
“We work tirelessly to tackle scams and protect hard-working taxpayers from becoming victims of fraud.
“Never let yourself be rushed. If someone contacts you saying that they are from HMRC, wanting you to urgently transfer money or give personal information, be on your guard. HMRC will never ring out of the blue threatening arrest.
“To help us fight these crimes, forward suspicious texts claiming to be from HMRC to 60599 and emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk. Report tax scam phone calls to us on GOV.UK.”
Scam call reports peaked nationally in March 2021 with almost 76,000 reports.
This was slashed to just over 5,000 in March this year.
HMRC received over 212,500 reports in total of all kinds of scams - by email, text message and phone - over the past year, nationally.