Fraudulent Calls Alert

5th September 2020

The Government Legal Department general enquiry and switchboard numbers and Bona Vacantia numbers are being used fraudulently targeting members of the public.

We have been made aware that the Government Legal Department (GLD) general enquiry number (020 7210 8500) and switchboard number (020 7210 3000), and some Bona Vacantia (BV) staff numbers are 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 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), with either the GLD enquiry line or switchboard 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, BV or HMRC.

GLD will never call you from its enquiry line or switchboard number. We will never ask you for your bank details or to pay us money over the phone.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from GLD or BV and asking for money, we ask you to hang up and report full details of the scam by email to: phishing@hmrc.gov.uk, including the following information:

date of the call

phone number used

content of the call

When making your report, please ask for it to be associated with report reference NFRC200803859141.

If you've been a victim of a scam and suffered financial loss, report it to Action Fraud