22/10/2012 The Electricity ‘Saving’ Box That Costs You Money!
Cavity wall and loft insulation, switiching your energy supplier and putting in double glazing are likely to bring your energy bills down. But plugging in a small device with a green light on it won’t and could be dangerous.
One Warwickshire consumer raised the issue with Trading Standards after her elderly mother had received a phone call from someone falsely claiming to represent her energy supplier. The caller offered to send her a device that they claimed would ‘save her money’. The call came from outside the UK.
An ‘electricity saving box’ then arrived in the post and after another phone call the elderly lady was scammed in to paying £99 for the device.
These devices, which consumers are encouraged to plug in to ‘save’ them electricity, have already come to the attention of Trading Standards Services in other parts of the UK. They appear to come from China, although the supplier details on the invoice are often given as New York. They have been tested and found to be unsafe as well as not delivering any tangible energy savings.
The devices themselves come in boxes with instructions in broken English, including advice not to ‘be too rude’ when plugging the devices in!
A safety recall has been issued but consumers are warned that these devices can still be purchased from outside the UK on the Internet and it is likely that fraudsters will continue to use the ‘energy and money saving’ ruse to sell them!
23/10/2012 ‘Police’ E-Crime Pop-Up Scam
Warwickshire Trading Standards has received a number of complaints from concerned residents who have received pop-ups on their computers demanding that they pay £100 ‘fines.
The pop-ups often suggest that the consumer has accessed a forbidden website or downloaded copyright material.
In some cases the consumer is told that their PC is ‘’locked’ until the ‘fine’ is paid.
This is a scam and probably an indication that your PC has been infected with a virus.
Consumers must not send any money (payment is often requested by paypal) and instead run your anti-virus software to deal with the problem.
For more information on computer security visit: www.getsafeonline.gov.uk
23/10/2012 Google Email ‘Lucky’ Winner Scam
If you have received an email from Google to let you know you are the ‘lucky’ winner then beware warn Warwickshire Trading Standards.
The bogus ‘WINNING NOTIFICATION FROM GOOGLE WINDOW LIVE INCORPORATION’ emails claim to come from the Google Security Department.
The email claims the recipient has won £750,000.00, simply for using Google’s search engine!
Like all bogus email of this kind it requests a range of personal information which can be used to commit identity fraud and recipient s who respond will be asked to send money to ‘help’ the transfer of the non-existent prize.
Further, the email even goes on to warn the recipient not to discuss the email with anyone else. This request is often included to help ensure they are not told by others that they are a scam victim.
Never open or respond to bogus emails.
For more information on scams visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams
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.
Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/warkstss
Simon Cripwell
Trading Standards Officer
Trading Standards Service
Communities
Warwickshire County Council
tel. 01926 414039
mob. 07771 975570
email. simoncripwell@warwickshire.gov.uk
web. www.warwickshire.gov.uk
My normal working days are Monday to Thursday
No comments:
Post a Comment