A Swansea mum was scammed out of almost £1,000 by a fraudster posing as a police officer who said she would have her kids taken away if she didn't pay within an hour.
She was called by someone who said there was a warrant out for her arrest because of unpaid taxes.
Convincing her she needed to act quickly with threats of up to five years in prison and the prospect of losing her children, he gave her a number to call, supposedly for HMRC.
"I was told that I needed to phone a number straight away, which would put me through to HMRC," said the mum, who is aged in her 30s and wants to be anonymous
"I was told if I didn't do it straight away my children would be taken off me. My children are my life, so at that point I was obviously really worried," she said.
After calling the fake HMRC number, the woman drove to her bank to draw out just under £1,000 as demanded by the scammer.
“I tried to tell the caller that I didn’t owe any tax – I was confident about that – but he kept saying that I hadn’t replied to letters and calls and that it was now urgent.
“I was told that I had an hour to transfer the money or the police would be arriving to arrest me.”
She said the caller was very "persistent and pushy" and insisted on staying on the phone while she drove to a second bank, the nearest branch of which was in Llanelli, to deposit the cash.
The woman now wants to share her story to make people think twice, saying: "You hear a lot about people falling for these scams, but you always think it will never happen to you because you’re switched on and not vulnerable to it.
"But my experience just goes to show, if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.”
Shockingly, after the police had been contacted and the scam reported, the same person called her back the next day, and then a third time.
“Even though I knew I’d been scammed he was so convincing again that I was starting to doubt myself again.
“That’s how good these people are at what they do," she added.
Luckily, she was able to get her money refunded.
Detective Constable Lyndsey Rice, from South Wales Police, said: “This case proves that there is no such thing as a typical victim; these fraudsters are well practised and are extremely manipulative and convincing.
“Victims of these scams often feel embarrassed that they’ve fallen for them, but the fraudsters concerned are calculated and, as in this case, often prey on specific fears and vulnerabilities.
“It’s also crucial that anyone who is the victim of a scam – or who believes they’ve been contacted by a fraudster – reports it via 101 as a matter of urgency."
The HMRC scam has been reported all over the country .
According to the HMRC website the details of any suspicious emails or phone calls should be forwarded or sent to the HMRC’s phising team: phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
Any suspicious text messages should be forwarded to 60599.
It states: “If HMRC needs to contact you about anything confidential they’ll reply by phone or post.”
“HMRC never send notifications of a tax rebate or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email or text message.”
