Victims include Liz O’Rourke, who is aged 77 and for the past 17 years has managed Summerfields, a B&B in Bohemia Road, Hastings. She said a man posing as “Sam Jones” told her she owed £2,700 in unpaid debt to a search engine optimisation (SEO) company and that Bristol County Court was now pursuing the debt. After a panicked call to the court, her mind was put at rest, but she expressed concern that other B&B owners might well pay up due to the convincing nature of the bogus call.

“My first reaction was panic – what had I done, who had I defrauded? Then I checked online with my husband, called the County Court and they told me things would never have reached this stage without lengthy correspondence. The bailiff is real and the company exists, but anyone can find a genuine enforcement agency online and pretend to be calling under their name, so it’s not Able Investigations’ fault and I didn’t lose any money either, fortunately. But the problem is that this guy is getting away with scaring people like me. Even though I’m 77, I still manage to run a business seven days a week, but there are older people around the country who he can convince to send him money. Our industry is highly dependent on internet presence. We do rely on Google Maps and the internet for most of our business, so we’re easy prey for them. My concern is that there are hundreds of people out there doing this and many of the victims will be easier prey than I was. There’s nothing out there to stop them.”

Steve Wood, managing director of Able Investigations and Enforcements and deputy chairman of industry body the Certified Enforcement Agents Association (CEAA), also commented.

“Sadly, as police budgets become increasingly stretched and as the internet pervades every aspect of our lives, fraudsters and scam operators are clearly becoming more prevalent. At a time when the CEAA is making great efforts to improve the reputation and image of our industry, it’s a shame to see behaviour like this taking place. We are of course upset that the good name of our company is being used in such a way, although relieved that Mrs O’Rourke had the presence of mind to check before parting with any money. Unfortunately we expect other bed and breakfast owners may have paid considerable sums to these fraudsters. The only silver lining to this cloud is that we can now help make the scam common knowledge, and hopefully alert anyone running an independent small business to the dangers that are out there. The key message is to treat any requests for money with extreme caution and never make a payment over the phone. We are happy to advise anyone who is being threatened with bailiff action as to their legal standing and appropriate actions.”

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I have previously reported in these pages on the various e-mail scams purporting to come from HMRC and other finance bodies. These continue to be an issue and you should always be wary of unexpected e-mails. This is especially true if they come with the promise of a refund being due to you if you just click on a link.

But a new approach by fraudsters has recently come to my attention. They are now making threatening phone calls in the hope of frightening people into handing over cash. One such scam involves an automated message stating “This is Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. We have been trying to reach you to let you know we are filing a law suit against you.” An alternative version, received by a client of mine told him that they were “watching his house”. They then either give you a list of options such as speak to a case officer or tell you to call them back on a number they give you.

In all cases, these calls try to give the impression that the recipient will be in big trouble if they don’t respond immediately. This is intended to create a sense of panic in the hope that they will react without thinking the situation through.  Needless to say, if you do respond then the scammers will seek to extract funds from you. It is not unheard of for them to ask for payments to be made using iTunes gift cards or other vouchers as such payment methods are harder
to trace.

If in doubt, you should always call HMRC up on a number you have yourself. If you genuinely owe money to HMRC, then an appropriate contact number will appear on all letters they send to you. Alternatively, contact numbers for all taxes can be found here. www.gov.uk/contact-hmrc

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.