DETECTIVES and the HMRC have urged people not to be taken in by the latest HMRC scam doing the rounds.

Victims have reported receiving answerphone messages claiming to be from HM Revenue and Customs demanding people return the call or a warrant will be issued and they will “get arrested shortly”.

HMRC confirmed the message, which you can listen to below, was not a genuine one left by their officers – and urged people to check the government website if they think they might have been approached by a scam artist.

The answerphone message left on one Swindon man's phone

Det Sgt Ian Magrath of Wiltshire Police’s Digital Investigations and Intelligence Unit said: “HMRC will never leave a voice mail threatening legal action and never give the reason for a call in a voice message.

“In the example message both these elements were mentioned which should ring alarm bells with the recipient.

“HMRC will not message you via WhatsApp ever – if anything on WhatsApp purports to be from HMRC it’s 100 per cent scam.”

A spokeswoman for HMRC said: “If you can’t verify the identity of the caller, we recommend that you do not speak to them.

“If someone calls, emails or texts claiming to be from HMRC, saying that you can claim financial help, are due a tax refund or owe tax, or asks for bank details, it might be a scam.”

You can report tax scams online. You can refer suspicious emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and forward suspicious text messages to 60599.