Trading Standards Update - 08/10/2012 More Scams

08/10/2012 ‘Financial Reward’

 A Wellesbourne consumer contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards to alert them to a letter she had received from someone in Hong Kong advising her she was due a financial reward of £8,730. All she had to do was to send £15.95 in advance to receive the cash!!!

 For more information on advanced fee fraud visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams


08/10/2012 ‘Police’ Magazine Scam

 An Alcester based trader called Warwickshire Trading Standards after receiving an unexpected phone call. The caller claimed to be phoning from Warwickshire Police and said the trader has supported a police campaign on drink and drugs awareness a year ago and did he want to support the campaign again?

 The trader asked for a telephone number from the caller who provided him with one. This turned out to be the phone number of the local Aldi Store!

 The caller had a Liverpool or Northwest accent.

 Rogue publishing firms often claim to call on behalf of local emergency services in order to trick businesses in to buying advertising or publications with little or no circulation. The publications are often safety related but they are almost never produced.

 For more information on publications scams, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams


08/10/2012 Doorstep Charity Warning

 A Leamington Spa resident telephoned Warwickshire Trading Standards after receiving an unexpected visit from a bogus St Johns Ambulance charity worker. The doorstep caller tried to gain entry to the house after the resident refused to give a donation.

 Residents are advised to check the ID of anyone who claims to be collecting on behalf of a charity. Never provide your personal or financial details to unexpected callers.


08/10/2012 Scam BT Caller


A Wellesbourne Neighbourhood Watch member contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards after receiving two unexpected phone calls from people claiming to be from ‘BT technical support’.

 The callers both claimed to be phoning to offer services including, online security and the removal of junk and corrupted files.

 Both callers gave English sounding names – David and Anthony, but these are thought to be bogus as such calls are typically made from outside the UK.

 In reality, these calls are often made from India or the Far East where people in call centres are employed to phone consumers (often claiming to be from Microsoft or BT) and trick them in to allowing them access to their PC’s. Once gained, the fraudsters charge the consumer for unnecessary work or for placing unnecessary programmes on their PC. Further, some may use this opportunity to steal personal or financial information or place viruses on the PC.

Consumers are strongly urged not to allow any unexpected callers access to their computers. Microsoft will not make unexpected phone calls to consumers and BT technical support staff are equally unlikely to. If you are a BT customer and think a call from BT is genuine, ask to phone the person back on a publically listed number (for example in a telephone directory or on a genuine website).

For more information on bogus computer callers, please visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams

For advice on computer security, visit: www.getsafeonline.org.uk


For more information on scams, visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams

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 Simon Cripwell
Senior Information 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