Money guru Martin Lewis has shared a little known piece of advice everyone should follow if they suspect they have received a scam call.

The Money Saving Expert took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to urge anyone who owns a bank account to remember the number 159.

Anyone who has received a suspicious call, or believes they have just answered a call from a scammer, should ring their bank immediately.

But if you can’t remember your bank’s phone number you can just dial 159 and it’ll put you through.

Mr Lewis said: ‘Phone number to remember: 159.

‘If you need call your bank urgently (e.g. it’s just called you, and you’ve hung up as it may be a scam) and can’t remember its number, just call 159 and it’ll put you through.

Calling this number will help people tell if they have received a scam call or not.

The money guru added if you believe you’ve been a victim of a scam call you should use a different line to call the bank or wait for at least an hour, in case the scammers are spoofing a dial tone.

Answering questions in the comments, Mr Lewis said the number is completely free to call.

He added this piece of advice has been around for a while – so he’s just sharing it as a reminder in case people don’t know about it.

With scams becoming more and more likely all the time, Mr Lewis is sharing this advice so people can brush up on their knowledge.

Ofcom reported in 2021, more than 45 million people were targeted by scam calls and texts in just three months.

In a statement, Stop Scams UK said: ‘159 works in the same way as 101 for the police or 111 for the NHS. It’s the number you can trust to get you through to your bank safely and securely, every time.

A number of the main banks operating in the UK already use the 159 dialling code, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Metro Bank, NatWest, Santander and Starling Bank.

The full list of banks that currently use it is on the Stop Scams UK website.

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