West Lothian people are being urged to stay on their guard against scammers.
Phone scam reports have fallen by 84 pent cent in Scotland over the last year, new regional data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has revealed.
In the Scotland, 384 phone scams were reported to HMRC in June this year compared to 2432 in June 2021.
People aged between 25 and 34 appear to be most affected by scams in the region, with 94 reporting phone scams in Scotland in June.
To fight phone scams, HMRC has worked with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to stop HMRC’s helpline numbers from being spoofed by fraudsters, who can no longer appear to be calling from an HMRC number. HMRC also has a dedicated customer protection team working on cyber and phone phishing scams around the clock.
The drop in reported phone scams is a testament to the work of teams across HMRC in tackling fraud.
Kelly Paterson, HMRC’s chief information and security officer, said: “We work tirelessly to tackle scams and protect hard-working taxpayers from becoming victims of fraud.
“Never let yourself be rushed. If someone contacts you saying that they are from HMRC, wanting you to urgently transfer money or give personal information, be on your guard. HMRC will never ring out of the blue threatening arrest.
“To help us fight these crimes, forward suspicious texts claiming to be from HMRC to 60599 and emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk. Report tax scam phone calls to us on GOV.UK.”
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