phone scams in the 12 months to September. In total, 242,494 bogus callers have tried to dupe members of the public by pretending to be from HMRC - a significant increase of 24 per cent on the previous year.
As people have been spending more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic, crooks have been using the crisis as an opportunity to make cold calls.
A significant proportion of suspicious activity HMRC deals with involves offers of bogus tax rebates. These scams could trick people into handing over their bank details and other personal information - and may be particularly tempting as people have seen their incomes reduced due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19.
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