non-horsy but is this a scam?

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angela_l_b

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This morning my mum was at home on her own (my dad works miles away and stays in a hotel during the week, so she is on her own). A woman came to the door and asked to see my dad (she asked for him by name), and mum said he wasn't there. The woman said she was from the inland revenue and needed to speak to him, and asked for a mobile number, which my mum gave her. The woman went and sat in her car outside, and after a couple of minutes came back and asked if she could leave a letter for my dad. It is a plain white envelope with a handwritten name on it; through the window apparently you can see a form. The woman then left. Mum can't get hold of Dad to see if he knows anything about it, but she rang the inland revenue who said they never, ever send anyone out to do house calls.

Mum hasn't opened the envelope (god knows why, I would have done!) but is a bit worried that it's a scam of some sort, but god knows what - she only gave out a phone number, which probably can't really do any harm. She didn't think at the time to ask for ID.

Has anyone heard of anything like it?
 
Sounds weird!

I would have opened it
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Sneaky way of handing over a court summons?!
 
Sounds extremely suspicous, did your Mum get the car reg or anything - IF it is dodgy she may need to report? Am very interested to hear what it is though as never heard of anything like this happening before. Wonder how she got your address too?
 
Doesn't a court summons have to be served on the actual person?

Does sound odd, but not scam like. I have a nasty suspicious mind so I will keep my speculations to myself.
 
Could it be for ID theft? As in get person to fill in a form (possibly promising tax rebate or something else tempting) with their details but the return address is actually a scam?

As someone else said could easily be a summons or similar though. My mum works as a receptionist some of the time and they get loads of odd stories from people trying to deliver them.

Third guess would be a personal entanglement of some description (a friend had some very strange letters from a lady who was convinced friend was having an affair with her OH - in fact said chap was harrassing poor friend who was junior to the guy at work!) but had better stop speculating now as I'm making your poor dad sound terrible!
 
Did you ask her for ID?

The handwritten name on the envelope would be odd for an official sort of letter.

Local authorities and possibly certain sections of the Inland Revenue to do with tax deception have been using increasingly disturbing tactics, but if she said she was from the Inland Revenue and was from another official agency, she would be in trouble.

I think your mother should open it! It all sounds very odd.
 
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Doesn't a court summons have to be served on the actual person?

Does sound odd, but not scam like. I have a nasty suspicious mind so I will keep my speculations to myself.

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My Mum's ex used to work in some pretty hairy areas and he used to scrunch the summons up a little and throw it at the subject - he figured if it touched them, they had been served
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I never thought of ID fraud, but it certainly sounds like whoever it was was targeting your dad in particular
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We used to get letters delivered in person when OH had some tax trouble...
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Open it and find out! (good thing I did, would have never found out how much money OH owed otherwise...!!!
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Ha ha, could be anything from an affair to a court summons! I expect Dad will have some very difficult questions to answer when he gets home! Apparently the IR have recently overcharged him and he's refusing to pay so it could be that, although really odd if they don't ever send inspectors.

If I were her I would definitely open it, but she's the completely honest sort who wouldn't dream of doing that even though she's been married to him for 40 years... no doubt all will be revealed in time.

Thanks for answers everyone, and if you too get a knock on the door, for Gods sake get some ID and the car registration!!
 
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