Who’s real in a world of fraudsters?

I HAD a phone call from HMRC yesterday morning. It was a recorded message telling me my account had been subject to fraud, and could I confirm a few details so they could help.

I was about to comply when I noticed the Cambridge dialling code. A scam. Much like the one that pops into my inbox regularly purporting to be from Royal Mail and asking me to fill in a form to release a package stuck at customs.

These wretched online fraudsters are a plague, and very much on the increase during lockdown. They also make life impossible for genuine callers.

Take the man who rang me a week ago claiming to be from NatWest, with whom I used to bank many years ago.

They had found a small sum of money left in my old account, and wanted new details in order to forward the balance.

Do I trust him? Or was I right, as I did, to send him away with a flea in his ear?