People attempting to contact the Revenue Commissioners helpline are being warned to be aware of a fake number which is appearing in online search results.
The bogus 1590 number appearing in results could see people being charged €30 for a ten-minute phone call.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming issued the warning about the UK-based scam today.
He said that people were "furious over crazy bills when they want to make a simple enquiry to the Revenue Commissioners.
He warned that the number may appear in searches for Revenue contact details “very high up, if not at the top” of the results page.
“This 1590 number is run by a company in the UK and people who call it will be charged €30 for a ten-minute phone call – this is outrageous and is completely taking advantage of people.”
He said he has asked the Chairman of the Revenue Commission Niall Cody “to work with his European counterparts and contact Google to ensure that they keep the correct Revenue phone number” at the top of the search results.
Deputy Fleming had questioned Mr Cody during a PAC meeting to request that he take those steps to stop people from being conned by the scamming connection service.
He said: ““I also urged him to introduce a system whereby when a person phones Revenue through the connection service, they are told immediately on speaking to a Revenue representative that they have been connected through a third party which charges excessive amounts, and they should be given the direct phone line number and asked to hang up and call back on that number.
“More needs to be done to protect consumers from highly experienced and sophisticated scammers.”
