Call centre fraud

It involves a fake sales team and representative calling clients to sell bogus products or services to acquire their personal and bank details to commit fraud. These calls use number spoofing to display a valid caller ID and appear legitimate (e.g. from a bank or HMRC).

How Does It Happen?

• They impersonate as an IT firm representative and claim they are from the helpdesk and need to access the client's device to repair or update it. 

• They claim you are entitled to a grant and can claim it by providing some bank details. 

• They want you to claim insurance for the recent accident. You should reject such unsolicited callers and contact your own insurance company on the numbers mentioned in your policy instead of replying to them. 

• They ask the victim to pay unpaid HMRC bills or invest pension money into a unique high-profit overseas opportunity. 

• They claim they are calling from a charity that needs your help to support the victims. 

• They may ask you to renew the subscription for a channel and pay the bills through crypto or wire transfer, or gift cards. 

• They contact you to offer help to get back the funds you lost in the scam. And will ask about the account details to transfer the lost investment money, or they ask you to pay a small fee to get the money back. 

Remember, all such anti-scam groups who ask for a fee to get back your lost funds are frauds. Do not engage in any such transactions.

How To Protect Yourself?

• Do not reveal any personal details like bank account details or Pins over the phone. You should hang up immediately if you feel harassed, pressured or threatened. 

• Do not rush to divulge any detail to an unknown caller and do not agree to time-limited deals. 

• Register the number to telephone preference service and use call blocking to restrict unwanted numbers.

• If you suspect the caller is a fraud, ring the organisation they claim to be from and ask about the employee. 

• If you suspect a fraud, report it to the consumer protection agencies. Likewise, if you get any nuisance calls related to pension reviews, inform the police.