'Insolvency Service' phone scam targets those already in debt
Victims are being tricked into calling a legitimate Government agency through an expensive premium rate line. Here's how to confirm whether that 'Insolvency Service' call is genuine or a scam.
Criminals are targeting some of the most vulnerable members of society with a phone scam supposedly involving the Insolvency Service.
The scam tricks victims into the free service through a premium rate phone number.
Here's what's happened and how to stay safe
How it works
Action Fraud says victims received telephone messages encouraging them to call the Insolvency Service.
Although the Insolvency Service is a legitimate Government agency and the calls did connect, they first go through an expensive premium rate line.
The scam is particularly devastating given that the people most likely to believe the scam are those already in debt – the Insolvency Service deals with people in financial distress, so might not be so surprised to hear from them.
The Insolvency Service blames the scam on a website based outside of the UK, helplinecall.com, which provides direct telephone numbers of businesses in the UK but when used, will cost the caller a lot of money.
If you receive a message purporting to be from the Insolvency Service you can check the number on the Insolvency Service’s website – that's https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service – or by typing it into a search engine.
This scam is not the first to try and trick victims using the reputation of a legitimate Government agency.
In March, an email scam attempted to steal personal details by asking respondents to set up Government Gateway accounts.
Read our guide on how to spot HMRC tax scams
How can I spot a premium rate number?
The Government has a list of premium rate numbers and what they will cost you to call.
Phone numbers starting with 09 can cost up to £3.60 per minute and charge an additional £6 to make the call.
If you have an unexpected phone charge on your bill, you can check the company and challenge the decision on the website of Government’s Phone-paid Services Authority.
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"Criminals are targeting some of the most vulnerable members of society..." Shouldn't came as a surprise. That's what criminals do. Predators always target the weak.
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"Why don't the telephone system operators close these numbers down?" These services are known as "Information, Connection and/or Sign-posting Services" (ICSS) or, more simply, as "Call Connection Services" (CCS) and they can be legal - if they comply with various rules and regulations. Those that operate on numbers starting 087 or 09 are classed as Controlled Premium Rate Services (CPRS) and are therefore regulated by the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA). Their regulations covering ICSS are designed such that anyone coming across a compliant service would be given enough information for them to decide to avoid using that service. That being the caee, no-one would ever bother to set up such a service. There are, in fact, hundreds of these websites, each promoting fake premium rate numbers for dozens or hundreds of well-known organisations and businesses - and it seems that most such services are not complying with the PSA regulations. Furthermore, those that operate on numbers starting 084 are not covered by the PSA regulations at all. PSA has issued civil monetary penalties (of hundreds of thousands of pounds each) against two ICSS operators in the last year or so. There are many other services which remain unreported. Websites promoting 087 or 09 numbers should be reported to PSA. Websites promoting 084 numbers should be reported to ASA - until such time that Ofcom decides to class all ICSS as CPRS, irrespective of call cost or prefix used. That is something within their power, and they have already done this for chatlines, "adult" services and internet dialler-operated services. Meanwhile, be aware that most 084, 087 or 09 numbers found online are fake and should be avoided. Most organisations use numbers starting 01, 02, 03 or 080 and which can be found on their official website.
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I tend to use saynoto0870.com to check any phone numbers that aren't landline (01 or 02) or smart numbers (03) and get a cheaper alternative number, sometimes 0800 which tend to be no charge. Never ring 084, 087 and especially 09 numbers
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09 April 2018