Even by the standards of phone spam scams this one is nasty

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When I see a call on the landline display that begins '0203' there is a fair chance that it will be from some sad overseas scammer diverting through a UK number. I like to answer these, just for the entertainment of wasting the time of some idiot with a fake anglicised name who claims to be from Microsoft or whoever. When they have had enough of me they hang up. But the recorded message I got just now was shocking in its scaremongering and cynicism. A woman's voice (English accent) said that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are launching an audit against me (or whoever else answered the phone - no name was given) and to press '1' to call back I didn't, of course. The return call could well be via a premium rate number and anyway the call wasn't from HMRC, who would contact someone by letter or by personalised phone call. I ran the number through some of the many, brilliant websites set up to report and check scam calls and found that those who did reply were put through to a guy with an Asian accent who demanded their National Insurance numbers and then hung up when they refused to give them - hardly the behaviour of a dogged tax inspector! But what a nasty scam. Vulnerable people could be terrified by such a message. And who is the English voice-over actress so desperate, daft or downright immoral as to record a message for these criminals?