POLICE have issued a warning after woman from Annan fell victim to a fraud when she was contacted on her house telephone where an automated message advised her it was HMRC and she owed them tax money.
The woman pressed a key on her handset where she was directed to an alleged advisor who was male, with an Indian accent.
The male informed her she had an outstanding debt of a 4 figure sum in unpaid taxes and advised if she failed to pay she would be arrested and taken to court.
The male persuaded the woman to make payment by way of Amazon Gift Card Vouchers where she would provide the claim number of the voucher to the male over the phone.
The woman was then passed to a second male who had a less prominent Indian accent. He obtained her mobile number and informed her she was required to stay on the phone to him until she had purchased all Amazon Gift Card Vouchers necessary to complete the full transaction of money owed.
Although the woman lost a sum of money by following through with the instructions of the males, thankfully her phone battery died during the process so she didn’t complete the transactions to the full amount allegedly owed.
Please share this with friends and family so there is less chance of someone else falling victim to this type of fraud.
A police spokesperson stated on social media “Fraud is a crime in which some kind of deception is used for personal gain. As technology advances, fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated and many types of fraud exist.
Also please click the link below which takes you to our Police Scotland website that provides advice and useful links in relation to Frauds.
http://ow.ly/g7GF50ya0cJ
If you feel you have been victim to this type of fraud or similar, please contact Police Scotland on 101 to report the circumstances.”
