Ministry would not chase consumers for cash

B.B. writes: I received a call purporting to come from the Ministry of Justice. A well-spoken young lady with a North American accent told me the Ministry of Justice had set up a department dealing with Payment Protection Insurance. It had discovered I was one of the few people who had not made a claim. She said I was owed £2,500 in respect of dealings with Lloyds Banking Group, but I would have to pay tax on this. I was suspicious from the start, as I could not imagine the Government being interested in this. I have never had a loan or mortgage with Lloyds and I pay off my credit card in full every month.

YOUR suspicions are well founded. This is a scam. A follow-up letter you received opens with the words ‘Respected Mr B…’, which is hardly typical for the Civil Service.

The letter says you have to pay 5 per cent of the £2,500 as tax, which is nonsense. The contact numbers on the letter are not genuine Ministry of Justice phone lines either. If you had swallowed the bait, you would have been asked to pay £125 by a money transfer scheme that allows the crooks to collect the cash anywhere, or asked for your credit or debit card details.

The Ministry of Justice is aware of the scam and has closed down a number of phone numbers and email addresses. It warns: ‘We would never contact consumers asking them for personal bank details, or request an up-front payment by money transfer.’