AN angry couple has warned people to be on their guard against a telephone scam by fraudsters claiming to be from the tax office.

Stewart and Jennifer Fowler, who are both retired, received a phone call at their home from a man claiming to be called James Parker, and from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

‘Mr Parker’ claimed Mrs Fowler, 67, owed the HMRC a total of £1,537 following an audit of account between 1995 and 2005.

He told the couple they could go to a hearing at County Court and asked them how they were going to pay.

‘Mr Parker’ added if the couple lost a subsequent court case it would then cost them £4,500.

He then said the HMRC had tried to deliver a document with the information in June this year, which Mr Fowler denied.

The bogus caller gave the couple an identification code and a case number.

He had obtained Mrs Fowler’s National Insurance number and date of birth before the phone conversation.

Mr Fowler, 65, of Milligan Avenue, Swain House, said he had reported the incident, which took place on Tuesday, to HMRC.

He said he was relieved they had not fallen for the scam but warned other people.

Mr Fowler said: “We were suspicious. I don’t know if they are targeting pensioners. For anybody it’s a worry. He said we could settle it out of court, or we could go to the County Court.

“He said we would need to get an attorney for the court case, but the HMRC would never say that to us.

“I don’t know how they have got our phone number and my wife’s National Insurance number.

“We tried to trace it afterwards but couldn’t. My wife was a bit shaken up by it at first.

“We just want to warn other people about this.

“We knew it wasn’t right. During the phone call my wife said ‘Is this a scam?’, he said ‘How dare you, what makes you think that?’

“We said we don’t owe the money, simple as that.”

The HMRC said it was unable to comment on individual cases, but said it was aware of a phone scam.

A HMRC spokesman said: “We encourage you to check GOV.UK for information on how to avoid and report scams, recognise genuine HMRC contact and make payments to HMRC.”

MORE TOP STORIES