For News Posts alerting website Subscribers to possible local Scams.

SCAM ALERT – gift card emails

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If you start getting emails from someone you know asking you to buy an Apple, Amazon (or any other) gift card or token, it could easily be a scam.

 

Clues to look out for are:

  • an email address that is different from the one your friend or colleague normally uses
  • a subject title similar to ‘A favour to ask’ or ‘Have you a moment?’
  • asking you to send them a photograph of the card

If you are unsure, check with your friend by ringing them up – don’t reply to the email! If it is a scam, tell them to change their email password and let the other people in their contacts list know they may be sent a scam message.

For more details:

.apple.com/en-gb/gift-card-scams

.which.co.uk/beware-of-scammers-impersonating-your-friends-to-ask-for-gift-cards

There’s a regularly updated list of the latest scams here:

which.co.uk/the-latest-scam-alerts

SCAM ALERT! Call using an 01749 number

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Watch out for a credit card scam using a local number. They called this afternoon from 01749 *6*7*6, purporting to be from Mastercard querying two recent purchases. Immediate warning flags were the poor audio quality of the recording and the extreme improbability of Mastercard’s fraud prevention team having a local office.

The scammers were using ‘spoofing’ to disguise their number as a local one, which we are naturally far more likely to pick up than one from a distant exchange which we don’t recognise.

If you get one of these scam calls, whether from a 01749 number or not, hang up immediately – above all don’t follow any of the instructions they give you.

SCAMS – phone calls & more…

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Number spoofing

Scammers can ‘spoof’ the phone number they’re calling from, so the number showing on your Caller ID may not be the number the call is being made from.

Recently a Westbury resident received two calls which appeared to be from local 01749 numbers – but they weren’t. So be careful, even if the number shown looks like it may be someone you know.

 

Energy rebate scams

More information about the current flurry of energy rebate scams:

which.co.uk/email-scam-offers-fake-energy-refunds-arlt41l9JRwj?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=scam_alert&utm_content=Scam+Alert+250822+A

 

and a reminder…

Which? offers free email updates on scams; if you haven’t already signed up for these, here’s the link:

https://act.which.co.uk/page/103781/data/1

SCAM emails and texts – energy bill rebates

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Watch out for emails offering rebates or grants towards fuel costs – although many are easy to spot, some scammers will go to the trouble of creating highly realistic emails and text messages.

One of a number active at the moment claims to come from Ofgem, but the email address ends in .ro which shows that it probably comes from Romania. All Ofgem emails always end @ofgem.gov.uk

The red “Claim your rebate now” button in this scam email doesn’t go to Ofgem, but to a completely different site which will doubtless ask for your personal and bank details so they can ‘send you the rebate’ – of course they won’t.

Scammers won’t just fake Ofgem emails, they might make them appear to come from a local council or a government department, so do be careful.

This webpage tells you how to avoid and report Ofgem scams:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/avoid-and-report-energy-scams