Former Emmerdale actor Adam Thomas’s wife Caroline has shared her “horrible experience” with a phone scammer.
The dance teacher, who is currently eight months pregnant, explained what happened via Instagram, warning her 118k followers not to be deceived by people claiming to be from HMRC.
Caroline said she’d been left a voicemail to return an urgent call from someone claiming to work for HMRC.
“I had the most horrible experience yesterday… I called the number back, the extremely professional man on the end of the phone asked me for my name so he could find me on his system, he then told me my address.”
Caroline continued: “Asked if I had a pen and paper and if I could write down the crime reference number, arrest warrant number and his personal officer number explaining he worked for HMRC.
“He then informed me I was owing £1723.80 for tax and that I could be facing up to £50,000 fine and up to 5 years imprisonment.
“I always make sure that all my bills are paid on time but as he was so believable and knew so much information about me, he had me doubting myself – had I or my accountant made a mistake?”
Caroline went on: “Some of you may have guessed by the end of a 15 minute phone call, me in floods of tears and @adamthomas21 slamming the phone down, we realised it was a scam.
“I am not stupid and would never give my bank details to anyone over the phone but I was just lucky that I had my husband with me.
“Some of you might believe you are too streetwise to be scammed but the frightening and persuasive, clever individual on the other end of the phone had me (at nearly 8 months pregnant) in a state I haven’t been in for years.”
She added: “Please be so careful and vigilant with who you trust, I don’t want anyone to go through what I did yesterday! How do these people sleep at night???”
Fans rushed to console the distraught mum. One wrote: “Bless you hunny, what a horrible experience, hope yr ok xxx.”
Another added: “Gosh how awful – poor you!! So nasty and far too common. Hope you’re alright xxx.”
A third said it had happened to them, commenting: “I’ve had this too, my boyfriend was not happy at all because he sounded so genuine 😓😓 @carolinethomas23.”
Read more: Adam Thomas shares sweet photo with pal Danny Miller and their dads
ED! spoke to HMRC who confirmed this incident was definitely a scam, saying: “We never threaten people with imprisonment, the number is not one of ours.
“We are aware that some customers have received telephone calls claiming to be from HMRC requesting personal information/bank account details in order to receive a tax refund, or to demand money for an unpaid tax bill.
“HMRC takes security very seriously but you need to be alert. If you cannot verify the identity of the person making the call you should not disclose your personal details. You should report this to Action Fraud.”
The spokesperson added: “Some of the scammers ask people to pay alleged tax debts with iTunes vouchers, too. They can buy UK numbers, even though they may be calling from abroad, people need to be wary of any calls.”
Adam, who appeared on 2016’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, paid tribute to his wife of seven months earlier this week.
Beside a picture of Caroline, he wrote: “Has and always will be my first priorityxxx you’re the reason I smile babe love you so much thank you for being the best mum to me and ted haha love you much xx @carolinethomas23.”
The pair were together for nine years before getting married on 27th August at Delamere Manor in Cheshire. They share son, Teddy, three, and announced in December that they’re expecting their second baby.
At the time, Caroline told OK! magazine: “We always wanted another baby but we weren’t planning for it to happen so soon after getting married. We conceived on our wedding night!’
But Caroline also admitted it’s been a difficult second pregnancy, saying: “I felt totally fine during my pregnancy with Teddy, but this time around I’ve been so sick.
“At one point it got so bad that I ended up in hospital. I was unable to keep any food or liquid down so I had to be put on a drip.”
She added that she even lost weight, explaining: “I’ve never known anything like it, I was constantly being sick and I lost nearly a stone in weight.”
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