20/02/2013
‘BBC’ Lottery Scam and other Advanced Fee Frauds
The names of bogus lotteries are becoming ever more bizarre! One
resident contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards after receiving a congratulatory
email from the ‘BBC National Lottery’, run in conjunction with ‘Microsoft’!
Like all bogus lotteries, the email asked the ‘winner’ to
send copies of various personal documents and would then have requested money
in advance of the $750,000 non-existent ‘prize’ being released.
James Feng Lui claims to work for the Shenzhen Development
Bank and wants you to help him claim $10.5 million, the estate of a deceased
person with your surname (so his letter says). He is willing to split the funds
50/50. Sadly those who take Mr Feng Lui up on his offer will only ever be asked
for money to help the transfer of the fictitious millions along. And, Mr Lee
Hao a bank worker in Hong Kong is writing to Warwickshire residents with the
same offer.
Advanced fee frauds come in many shapes and sizes. Never
reveal any personal or financial information to people you don’t know or trust
and especially cold callers and senders of spam email/letters.
More about advanced fee frauds: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/wccweb.nsf/Links/5D0649278E3ED2CB80257886003647F7/$file/20120912_Advanced_Fee_Fraud.pdf
20/02/2013
Are You Really a Winner?
Warwickshire Trading Standards are warning residents about
letters which appear to suggest that you may have won prize, often by stating
that a prize has been unclaimed or asking you to send in a claim form. The
small print is usually the give-away in these cases where consumers are
actually required to phone a premium rate number or send an expensive text
(often as much as £10), just to find out if they have won and not to collect a
prize at all!
You cannot win a lottery you have not entered. Always check
the small print and beware of phoning or texting to check on your ‘prize
’. You
may not have won anything at all and if you have, it will probably be worth less
than the cost of the phone call!
More about scam lotteries: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/wccweb.nsf/Links/5D0649278E3ED2CB80257886003647F7/$file/Scambuster+A5+Campaign+English+2.pdf
20/02/2013
Tarmac Gang Warnings
Tarmac gangs are again operating in South Warwickshire villages.
Residents are advised not to engage services on the doorstep. Tarmac gangs can
be very persuasive/threating. Residents are best advised to keep their doors
closed. Warwickshire Councils do not go door to door offering to re-surface
residents driveways with left over tarmac. Tarmac gangs will do a poor job and
charge a small fortune!
20/02/2013 Facebook ‘Product
Testers’
Warwickshire
Trading Standards are warning users of Facebook to beware of advertisements
etc. from traders offering people the opportunity to ‘product test’ face
creams, free for 30 days. One consumer reported taking up the offer for what
she thought would only involve paying a small amount for postage and packing.
Having provided her debit car details she was then told that if she did not
return the goods within 14 day unopened, she would be charged £80!
Never
provide your credit or debit cards to traders you don’t know or trust and
always check the terms and conditions of any offer – whatever the headline
claim may be. Trading Standards know that some traders have taken money from consumers
accounts, even after they had cancelled, using a system called continuous
payments authority. If you are in this situation the Financial Services Authority
state that you can cancel such agreements directly with your bank. See their
leaflet: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf
20/02/2013 Cold Calling
Alarm Sales Wellesbourne
Consumers
living in the Wellesbourne area have reported cold calls relating to the
promotion of monitored security systems. Warwickshire Trading Standards would
like to remind consumers that if they are offered ‘free’ alarm systems, they
may come with expensive monitoring contracts. Consumers should never buy from
cold callers and if they require a security system should seek independent
advice from their local Police or NHW organisation.
Further,
consumers should be wary of businesses that use spurious/scary crime statistics
to sell their systems or claim that the emergency services will respond if
their alarm is activated.
13/02/2013 Business ‘Collapse’
Scam
A
Warwickshire consumer reported to Trading Standards receiving an unexpected
phone call from someone who claimed a business the consumer had a contract with
was ‘closing down’ and the consumer was due a ‘refund’.
The
caller offered to send the consumer a cheque for £350 and was then asked to send
£100 further on to India.
This
is a scam. The cheque would initially clear and the money appear in the
consumer’s account. The consumer would then send £100 on to India. However, the
cheque would almost certainly be stolen or counterfeit and when this was
spotted by the bank, they would remove the money from the consumer’s account,
leaving the consumer £100 out of pocket.
13/02/2013 Loan Scam
A Warwickshire consumer reported to the Trading Standards
Service receiving an offer of a loan after being phoned unexpectedly by someone
he had never spoken to before (the consumer has been looking for a loan
previously).
The caller (who was phoning from abroad) offered the consumer a
£3000 loan over 2 years with a monthly repayment of £94 per month. The caller
even sent the consumer a loan agreement, despite the loan repayments covering
less than the total cost of the loan!
Consumers looking for loans are warned that they may become
targets for fraudsters.
The fraudster will offer the consumer the loan but the consumer
will often begin their loan repayments before they receive the loan. The fraudsters
never do send the money but keep taking the repayments for as long as they can.
In some cases the fraudsters ask for an admin fee to be paid up
front before the loan can be released and again, it never is, leaving people who
already have difficult financial circumstances, even worse off.
13/02/2013
Timeshare Owners Targeted
Timeshare owners, often those who have been desperately trying
to sell their timeshares, are being targeted by fraudsters warn Warwickshire Trading
Standards. One Warwickshire timeshare owner reported receiving an unexpected phone
call to tell him that he was owed over £5000 as a victim of a timeshare scam.
The caller claimed that the money would be couriered to his door, but that the
consumer would have to first pay a £860 transfer fee.
This has all the hallmarks of an advance fee fraud and consumers
are advised not to send any money if they are contacted in this way.
Please feel free to cascade this information to whomever you feel
appropriate (including using the information in your
newsletters/websites etc.).
If you have any information you wish to provide to
Warwickshire Trading Standards Service, either for our information, or
to appear in future email alerts, please email me.
For more information on scams, visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams
Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/warkstss
Simon Cripwell
Trading Standards Officer
Warwickshire Trading Standards Service
Communities
Warwickshire County Council
Old Budbrooke Road Warwick CV35 7DP
tel. 01926 414039
mob. 07771 975570
My normal working days are Monday to Thursday
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