04/09/2013 Tesco vouchers scam
Beware emails suggesting you have ‘won’ £1000 in Tesco vouchers and requesting your credit card details to obtain your prize. This is a phishing scam warn Warwickshire Trading Standards. Always delete suspicious emails and never follow links in them or download forms. Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
04/09/2013 Foam Mattress Warning
Nuneaton and Stratford upon Avon residents are warned to beware of door to door sellers of foam mattresses. The callers are claiming the mattresses come from bankrupt stock but Trading Standards Officers are concerned they may be foreign imports that might not meet tough UK fire resistance standards. Always buy mattresses from businesses you trust. Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
04/09/2013 Job Seekers Warned
Warwickshire Trading Standards are warning job seekers to beware of ‘CRB check’ scams. A job seeker from Nuneaton reported that he had received an email offering him a vacancy but he first had to pay up front for a CRB check at a cost of £60, to be paid in Ukcash vouchers. The offer was bogus. If you are ever asked to pay up front using UKcash vouchers, check the offer is genuine. UKcash vouchers are increasingly being used by criminals as an easy (and difficult to trace) way to obtain cash from their victims. Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
04/09/2013 Pension Warning
An Atherstone resident contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards to report receiving an unexpected telephone call from someone who said they had been ‘given permission to look in to people’s pensions’. When pressed they admitted they were calling from South Africa.
Never provide persona or financial information to unexpected callers.
Unscrupulous companies are targeting resident’s pension pots and trying to get consumers to move them to news funds. The funds may deliver poorer returns and the rogue businesses always take very large commissions – beware! Always seek professional and independent financial advice. Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
04/09/2013 Entitled to PPI
Nuneaton and Warwick consumers contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards after receiving unexpected phone calls from someone who said the consumers were entitled to a £5000 PPI claim. The caller requested the consumers send Ukash vouchers to him (for an undisclosed sum) and then a cheque would be delivered in under two hours!
In a similar case a Rugby consumer was told they were entitled to £3200 PPI claim money if they paid £50 up front in Ukash vouchers. The caller again said they would visit the consumer’s house with the cheque!
The fraudsters all use English sounding names such as Richards, although they are clearly all based abroad.
Fraudsters often ask to be paid in Ukash vouchers as they enable the fraudster to receive the money quickly are not easily traced. Beware! Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
04/09/2013 Pop-Up Computer Scam
A Warwick resident reported to Trading Standards seeing a pop up appear on her computer screen falsely claiming to come from Cheshire Police and demanding the user pay a £100 fine in Ukash vouchers for allegedly accessing ‘dodgy’ websites. These bogus pop ups are generated by computer viruses. Never send any money and clean your PC with an anti-virus program. Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
04/09/2013 Fraudsters Target Desperate Timeshare Owners
Fraudsters are targeting timeshare owners warn Warwickshire Trading Standards. One Warwickshire owner reported receiving an unexpected phone call from a ‘trader;’ who claimed he could remove the consumer’s liability for his timeshare from him. The consumer had been trying to sell his timeshare for some time and agreed to pay £4000 in Ukcash vouchers. The ‘trader’ claimed that the vouchers could not be cashed until the consumer provided full details of the timeshare. However in reality, Ukcash vouchers can be cashed as soon as the recipient has the Ukcash voucher numbers.
In this case the vouchers were cashed immediately and the ‘trader’ did nothing to remove the consumer’s liability for his timeshare. When the consumer complained to the trader he was given a telephone number to contact Ukash but the number turned out to belong to the fraudsters as well!
The consumer later received another call from someone else asking for more money.
Fraudsters target people desperate to sell their timeshares with these sorts of bogus claims. In reality, timeshares are almost impossible to sell and owners have instead been faced with paying the timeshare company they are with to release them from their contract and from their ever increasing maintenance charges. Follow us: https://twitter.com/WarksTSS
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
Email: simoncripwell@warwickshire.gov.uk
Web: www.warwickshire.gov.uk
Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/warkstss
My normal working days are Monday to Thursday
Just scroll down for the latest NW news from around the District, County and further afield
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
WAR S - Caravan thefts (from Twitter)
Supt Debra Tedds
Be Aware. Number of caravans stolen from driveways over past few weeks in South Warks. Ensure secured and report any sus activity.
@SWAreaCommander any details? Be worth an appeal I would've thought@SWAreaCommander 2 Kenilworth, 1 Coventry border and 1 Long Itchington. All day time - no known witnesses. Any info appreciated.
Sam Dimmer Monday, 19 August 2013
Saturday, 17 August 2013
WAR - Trading Standards Update
29/07/2013 Blue Badge Service Warning
Users
of blue badges are warned to beware of conmen operating in the Warwick
area, falsely claiming to be from the ‘Blue Badge Service’.
One
elderly resident had an unexpected visit from two men who called at her
house offering ‘help’ with her blue badge. One asked about her stair
lift and both gained access to her property, obtaining her key safe
number.
29/07/2013
Data Fax Warning
Warwickshire businesses are warned to
beware of faxes from ‘organisations’ asking them to ‘update’ or ‘verify’
company data. This warning comes after a Rugby business reported to Trading
Standards receiving a fax requesting updated company data.
The small print on the fax revealed
that had the company provided the information and faxed the document back, they
would have unwittingly signed up to a monthly registration fee of 97 Euros!
29/07/2013
Expo Warning
Trading Standards are warning businesses that attend
exhibitions to be careful what they sign up for after a North Warwickshire
business received a demand for advertising. The business had thought they had
completed an exhibition survey but had in fact unwittingly signed an
advertising agreement!
29/07/2013
Phone Microsoft Scam
A consumer reported to Warwickshire Trading Standards
that his elderly father had experienced unexpected problems with his computer, ending
in a pop up appearing on his screen asking him to phone Microsoft on the number
given in the pop up to resolve the problem.
He did so and spoke to someone he believed was a Microsoft
representative. The consumer provided his credit card to pay for the ‘fix’ but fortunately
his bank prevented any transactions being made.
The consumer’s computer had in fact contracted a virus
that caused the problems and created the pop up, directing the user to the
bogus Microsoft employee!
29/07/2013 ‘Free’ Magazine Trial Scam
A consumer reported to Warwickshire
Trading Standards receiving an unexpected phone call from a company to tell her
that they would be receiving a ‘free’ magazine trial which they could cancel
within 14 days. The consumer provided their card details but money was immediately
taken from their account. Never provide your credit card details to
unexpected callers.
29/07/2013 Cold Calling Health Questionnaire
Warwickshire residents are warned to
beware of cold calls from people asking health questions. A resident reported
the matter after believing she was speaking to a hospital.
These unexpected calls are likely to
be from marketing companies gathering information that they can then sell on.
Never provide personal or financial information to unexpected or cold callers.
29/07/2013
Burglar Alarm Sales Warwick
Consumers in Warwick are warned to beware of cold
calls from companies offering ‘free’ burglar alarms. Such alarms typically come
with expensive monitoring contracts and may be completely unsuitable for the
needs of the individual resident. Always speak to your local Police crime
prevention officer or NHW before making any security alarm purchasing decisions.
29/07/2013 Mobile Phone ValuationsBe very cautious before you send your
old mobile phone away for a valuation/to be sold. Warwickshire Trading
Standards has received a number of complaints from consumers who sent their
phones for valuation, only to find that the price quoted was much less than
they were expecting. Having requested their phone back it did not then arrive!
Always check the companies you intend
to use carefully. Google the company name to see what others are saying about
them.
29/07/2013 Bogus Community Police Officer
Warwickshire Trading Standards are warning
Kenilworth consumers and businesses to beware of unexpected cold calls from
people falsely claiming to be Community Support Officers. The callers offer
advertising space in an information booklet which they claim will be sent to
local schools and which relates to sports facilities for children.
In reality the callers work for bogus publications
companies who con people in to buying advertising in publications with little
or no circulation (and therefore no worth). They often falsely claim to be working
for a local emergency service to give them legitimacy.
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.
To add, amend or remove your details from this email circulation list, again, please email me.
To add, amend or remove your details from this email circulation list, again, 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
Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/warkstss
My normal working days are Monday to Thursday
NAT - Make someone’s Christmas by showing you believe in the community
Community Christmas believes that no elderly
person in the
UK should be on their own on Christmas Day unless they want to be. This might
sound like a simple and obvious statement? They would agree. However, research
conducted by the WRVS suggested that just under a quarter of a million older
people spent Christmas alone last year.MORE
NAT - Get Safe Online ‘Switched On’ Campaign
Children’s safety is the Number One concern for all parents, and increasingly that includes keeping them safe in their digital world... In other words on the internet, texting and anything else they do online.
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