The National Crime Agency is currently receiving an increased number of reports of scammers using/spoofing HMRC numbers and claiming to be the NCA saying the potential victims' National Insurance number has been compromised. These calls are NOT genuine and should be ignored. NCA will never contact you about your bank account or NI number. If you’re in any doubt as to the identity of an NCA officer please call their Control Centre on 0370 496 7622 (available 24/7).
How to identify an NCA officer
In the event an NCA officer needs to speak with you they will identify themselves clearly.
An NCA officer will only ever contact you for investigative purposes in person, by telephone or by email – we will never contact you by text message or instant messaging such as WhatsApp.
If you’re in any doubt as to the identity of an NCA officer please call our Control Centre on 0370 496 7622 (available 24/7).
Contact in person
An NCA officer will identify themselves by showing you their NCA warrant card. This is proof of their identity and authority.
Contact via email
Official alerts on issues such as compromised accounts may be sent by email. However, official NCA emails will NEVER:
- Ask for remote access to your computer
- Ask you to click on a hyperlink in order to participate in an investigation
- Send you unsolicited emails with attached files, especially zip or macro enabled Microsoft Office files
- Ask you for any login credentials or passwords
Identification by telephone
If you’re contacted by telephone it can be more difficult to verify an NCA officer’s identity.
There are a number of things however that an NCA officer would NEVER DO:
- Ask you for your bank details or PIN
- Ask you to transfer funds to another account
- Ask you to hand over cash or bank cards to a courier
- Ask you to pay a fine or a fee to them or a third party over the phone or online
- Ask you for access to your computer, passwords or log on details over the phone or online
- Ask you to register personal details in an attachment or website online
- Ask you to “assist” in an investigation by doing any of the above
- State that you are committing a crime by not complying
- Communicate in an abusive, threatening or coercive manner
If you’re in any doubt as to the identity of an NCA officer please call our Control Centre on 0370 496 7622 (available 24/7).
We strongly recommend that after hanging up you wait for five minutes before calling either the police or our Control Centre. There have been cases of fraudsters keeping the line open after a victim had hung up. Leaving several minutes between calls will ensure that the call has closed.
Stay SAFE
- Suspect anything or anyone you don’t know – no matter what or who they claim to be
- Ask questions. Whatever a fraudster tries, you have the power to stay in control
- Find out for certain who you are dealing with. Challenge anything that seems suspect
- End a situation if you feel uncomfortable. If you feel threatened call your local police on 101 or 999
Report HMRC scam calls.