West Mercia Police have passed on a report of telephone scam calls received by Gloucester residents, and have urged residents to be on their guard to any such scam calls.

There were two incidents of suspected telephone scams reported to the police on October 17th.

An elderly lady in Stonehouse was contacted by telephone by a female with a foreign accent, who claimed that they owed the HM Revenue and Customs £1,286 for unpaid taxes from 2005 and 2006.

The caller also stated that a warrant had been issued for her arrest, and she was given a number to call and a reference number to quote. The matter has been reported to Action Fraud as it is believed to be a hoax.

A similar incident took place in Matson Gloucester, when at about midday another lady received a call from a man calling himself ’Peter’ who claimed to be from HM Revenue and Customs. He stated the lady owed £1286 in unpaid taxes, but could pay using £500 of iTunes vouchers and that someone would call and collect the vouchers and advise on how to pay the remaining balance.

The lady was advised not to tell anyone or they would be arrested and if they went to court they would be paying £47,000. The caller then said someone would ring back in an hour to confirm the lady had the voucher. No further call was received.

Please be aware that the HM Revenue and Customs will not contact you out of the blue with such calls regarding any tax arrears. Do not give out private information (such as bank details or passwords), reply to text messages, download attachments or click on any links in emails if you’re not sure genuine.

Report any attempted scam like this to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040 or you have been a victim of fraud report to 101.