A retired police officer fears scammers have stolen his family’s identities to pocket hundreds of pounds of public cash from HMRC.
Jim Mackie knew nothing about a claim for PPI until a letter dropped through his letterbox saying his wife’s application had been successful.
The letter from the taxman said the money would soon be transferred to the third party the couple had appointed to act for them.
However, the former investigator has never heard of the firm. Not a single penny has landed in his bank account and no cheque has arrived in the mail.
A police investigation has now been launched amid concerns scammers are using stolen identities to bank public money from HMRC.
‘When HMRC is scammed, we’re all scammed’
Mr Mackie lives in Garmouth near the mouth of the River Spey and is a member of the local community council. He told the Press and Journal he knew nothing about the PPI claim until a letter arrived in September last year.
The letter sent from the taxman advised £316.30 would soon be sent to appointed agents, who are a Bury-based bookkeeping company.
Having never made a PPI claim, Mr Mackie suspected a scam and immediately alerted HMRC and the police.
After initially being told he could not report a crime because he was not a victim, a police officer visited his home several weeks later to investigate.
Mr Mackie now fears an “industrial-level fraud” is underway to con HMRC out of paying legitimate claims to scammers and has lodged a complaint with them.
He also has concerns the family has lost out on a legitimate PPI claim from HMRC due to the scam.
Mr Mackie said: “I’m aware that scammers buy information with lists of identities. I think that’s what has happened with us.
“My wife doesn’t have a tax advisor and hasn’t heard of the company that HMRC says is sending money to, so it must be a scam.
“It’s very worrying. At the end of the day it’s tax payers’ money that has been lost, and that belongs to all of us. When HMRC is scammed, we’re all scammed.
“I doubt we’re the only ones this has happened to. This could be an industrial level fraud.
‘Fake signature on HMRC files’
After several attempts, Mr Mackie spoke to a tax official by phone in early October last year.
When the details of the PPI scam were outlined, the HMRC officer explained they had a received a form purportedly signed by Mr Mackie’s wife authorising the payment to the agents.
The couple asked to scrutinise the document and concluded it was a forgery.
Mr Mackie said: “When we spoke to HMRC we advised the agent that we had not made any tax claim, that we had never heard of this company and that we wanted all actions taken by HMRC to be stopped immediately until such times we had received from HMRC a copy of the alleged mandate from my wife.
“We were informed that there was a mandate allegedly signed by my wife on HMRC’s files. We told the agent that any mandate was false as my wife had never signed on in relation to any tax matter.”
Mr Mackie said he asked for a copy of the alleged mandate be forwarded to them immediately.
He added: “In the event it took over three weeks for that document to arrive in our post. When we examined it, the signature was clearly false.”
Scam investigation launched
HMRC says it always advises people to be cautious when handling sensitive personal information.
A spokesman declined to comment on Mr Mackie’s individual complaint but did say specific concerns can be discussed.
He said: “If a customer believes they did not nominate an agent and asks us to review the claim, we can work with them and the agent to resolve the issue.
“Customers can always make their own claims with us directly online and keep all of what they are due. Anyone who does choose to use an agent to represent them can find guidance by searching ‘how to choose a tax agent’ on gov.uk.”
A police spokeswoman said: “Around 1pm on Monday, October 9 last year we received a report of fraud in the Garmouth area. Inquiries are ongoing.”
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