Police have received a number of calls today in South Cumbria regarding a scam which attempts to gain money from members of the public.
The telephone scam relates to a caller purporting to be a HMRC stating that prosecution action will be taken unless payment is made.
Cumbria Constabulary spokesperson said: “Our advice for such scams is to politely decline to hand over any money and to take the details of the caller and contact HMRC on (https://www.gov.uk/contact-hmrc) to check if it is an actual case or fraudulent.
“The HMRC website states they would never use these methods to tell you about a tax rebate, a penalty or even to get personal payment information.
“We would like to advise the public to be wary of such scams.”
Anyone who comes across such a scam should contact Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.org.uk or contact the Action Fraud Hotline on 0300 123 2040 as they are the investigatory body for offences of this type.
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