The UK Government has issued a warning after con artists hijacked an official number and are using it to try to scare people out of money.
People are receiving calls from an official number used by the Government Legal Department, with threats ordering them to pay up.
People who don't pay are told they could be arrested.
A Government spokesman said: "We have been made aware that the Government Legal Department (GLD) general enquiry number (020 7210 8500) is being used by fraudsters to try and extract money from members of the public.
"In most of the reported cases, the fraudsters claim they are calling from GLD or HMRC, with the GLD enquiry line number showing in the caller ID.
"They are usually very aggressive on the phone, threatening members of the public that if they do not pay a certain amount of money, the police will arrest them. The calls are NOT being made by GLD or HMRC.
"GLD will never call you from its enquiry line number. We will never ask you for your bank details or to pay us money over the phone.
"If you receive a call of the type described above, please hang up and call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 immediately. When making your report, please ask for it to be associated with report reference NFRC200803859141."
