Latest Consumer Alerts and Trading Standards News – from Norfolk Police

Please see below this week’s Consumer & scam alerts released by Norfolk Trading Standards…….

Scam Alert – Telephone cold calls claiming to be from ‘BT’ stating ‘your BT line will be closed within the next 24 hours’ – 12 December 2019

Look out for telephone cold calls delivering a recorded message that claim to be from ‘BT’ and state that ‘your BT line will be closed within the next 24 hours due to fraudulent activity on this IP address’.

The call then goes on to offer the call recipient press number options to ‘prevent closure’.

These calls are not genuine and are likely to be used to seek remote access to computers, gather personal, account or financial details or attempt to take payments.

If you receive one of these calls do not press any keys if prompted, hang up and report it to us via our partners, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06.

Rogue Trader Alert – Door to door fish sellers – 12 December 2019

Watch out for cold callers selling fish door to door.

This follows an incident in the Blakeney area on Thursday 11 December where a resident was cold called by a man wearing a long white coat who offered to sell them frozen fish.

Reports have also been received from Castle Acre, Wimbotsham, Grimston, Syderstone and East Rudham in recent days. It is possible this seller may continue to move on to other locations within Norfolk.

In the past these types of sellers have been known to use high pressure sales tactics and there have been issues with the quality of the fish being offered, whether the type of fish is as claimed, and whether it has been appropriately stored for transportation.

Do not deal with cold callers and never be pressurised into buying on the doorstep.

If you are approached by this seller or are concerned about possible rogue trader activity in your area, please report it to us via our partners the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06 or to Norfolk Police on 101.

Rogue Trader Alert – Doorstep cold callers selling household cleaning products – 12 December 2019

We have received further reports of doorstep cold callers trying to sell household cleaning products. This follows an incident today where a young man was seen cold calling at properties in Blakeney. It is possible these sellers will continue to move onto other locations in Norfolk.

Never deal with anyone who cold calls at your property offering to sell something.

Anyone sighting these sellers in Norfolk please contact us through our partners the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06 or to Norfolk Constabulary via 101.

If you feel intimidated or sight these cold callers and are concerned for vulnerable neighbours call 999.

Scam Alert – Emails claiming to be from ‘Amazon’ – 9 December 2019

We are aware that emails claiming to be from ‘Amazon’ are continuing to circulate. Recent examples have included a number of phishing emails designed to look similar to genuine Amazon emails but asking for sensitive information.

Often these emails refer to a recent order, a charge, or an issue with your account that requires urgent attention in order to lure you into clicking on a link or calling a phone number. Anyone following these links or contacting will be asked to supply account information, financial information and passwords which could potentially be used to commit further fraud.

Amazon will never ask you for the following information in an email communication:

  • Bank account information
  • Credit card number
  • PIN
  • Credit card security number (including ‘updates’ to any of the above)
  • National Insurance number
  • Mother’s maiden name
  • Any other information to identity you or your Amazon password
  • If you think you have received a phishing or spoofed email claiming to be from Amazon, you can report it to them so that they can investigate by either:
  • Opening a new email and attach the email you suspect is fake. Send it to [email protected].
  • If you can’t send the email as an attachment, you can forward it to [email protected].
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