Fraudsters are threatening Monmouthshire residents with legal action by posing as HM Revenue & Customs in a new phone scam.

 Hilda Turnbull took a ‘sinister’ phone call at her home in Llanellen, near Abergavenny, around 8:30am last Wednesday morning (February 28) and said alarm bells immediately started ringing. 

“I usually ignore obvious phone scams but I thought this one was particularly bad,” said Mrs Turnbull. 

“The recorded message starts by saying “This is a time-sensitive issue, ring 02896 205 123 or face serious legal consequences.”

 “Further threats are then made and the number is repeated two or three times. 

“While most scams are well-known, I’m worried these calls may frighten a lot of elderly people.” 

Mrs Turnbull alerted local MP, David Davies, who has reported the matter to Action Fraud.

 “I was concerned to hear that residents in the constituency are being targeted like this,” he said.

 “The scammers are using shock and panic tactics to scare callers. We need to stay vigilant and speak to elderly relatives or vulnerable people in our communities about the importance of verifying who’s on the other end of the phone.” 

After issuing a warning on social media, Mr Davies was contacted by officials from HMRC. They are urging people not to respond to these calls, and offered some advice.

They said genuine organisations will never contact you, asking for sensitive details such as PIN numbers, passwords or bank details. Locals were also urged to never give out private information, reply to texts, emails, or download attachments which were unexpected.

You can always forward suspicious emails to [email protected] and texts to 60599, or contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 to report any suspicious calls or use their online fraud reporting tool.

The website, GOV.UK also has information on how to avoid and report scams.