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Telephone Scams
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    • Banking scam - You will receive a call pretending to be from your Bank or Building Society (many of these callers will used cloned telephone numbers which will replicate the actual number of your bank), this call will tell you that your account has been compromised in some way. Either with suspicious activity on your account, your account details have been hacked/stolen from a third party or your mobile device has been compromised, meaning your account is in danger. They will pretend to sympathise and make it seem like they are your friend and are looking to help you. In doing so they will be trying to get more information from you above what they may already have. They will use a mixture of THREAT, COERCION & TIME to push you down the road of their scam. Once they believe they have your confidence they will then pull the trigger on the main part of the scam, this will be to get you to transfer the contents of your account to a DUMMY account which will be temporary until your new account have been set up, this is classed as APP fraud (Authorised Push Payment Fraud). This where you are the one sending the money to them, not them stealing directly from your account. The Banks have a "Duty of Care" to protect their customers from such frauds and can monitor accounts for suspicious activity such as moving large sums of money to outside accounts. Do not panic if this does happen yo you, first of all contact your Banks' Fraud department and give them all the details, they are duty bound to help and support you. also contact your local Police office, although they will also direct you to your bank. Even though you sent the money most banks accept that they have a responsibility to check large outgoing payments and some Banks will refund in full any monies lost.

    PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOUR BANK OR BUILDING SOCIETY WILL NEVER COLD CALL YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS. IF YOU RECEIVE SUCH A CALL HANG UP AND CONTACT YOUR BANK DIRECTLY EITHER ON THE PHONE OR IN BRANCH.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
    • HMRC / NATIONAL INSURANCE -  You receive a call from  a number claiming to be HMRC, this may be in two forms 
    1. A pre-recorded message  informing you of a problem with your Tax or National Insurance telling you that you owe money or are suspected of Fraud. They  then give you an option to select a number (press one to speak to an agent), this will put you through to someone who will pretend to help solve your problem but is only interested in your personal details especially your Bank Details.

    2. A direct phone call claiming to be be from a HMRC call centre suggesting you have a problem with your tax or national insurance, they may suggest that you have overpaid and are due a refund. If you continue with this call they will ask for your bank details to allow a refund to be paid, this gives them access to your accounts. HMRC do not deal in this way you would receive a letter and any refund would be by cheque unless you have made a previous arrangement and they will already have your account details.

    HMRC WILL NEVER CONTACT YOU IN THIS WAY FOR SUCH CONCERNS, YOU WOULD NORMALLY RECEIVE A BROWN ENVELOPE THROUGH THE POST WITH THE GOVERNMENT CREST ON IT AND A RETURN ADDRESS ON THE REAR.

    • Delivery Companies / Subscription Services - You will receive a phone call asking if you will be in to receive a parcel, Within the hour a driver appears typically with a basket of flowers and a bottle of wine, they have no record of who its from but a card will follow shortly. He asks you for £3.40 (or similar small sum) from your card to prove delivery has been made to an adult due to the alcohol. It cannot be cash as a card verifies you are over 18, he will produce a card machine and you will enter your card & PIN number. Within a couple of days your account will be emptied. 

    Tell the caller you will not accept any gifts unless you know who it is from then check with them if its true. Do not give your card or details to anyone at your door regardless of the situation

    • Alternatively you could receive a call regarding a subscription you may have (Amazon, Netflix etc.) claiming a problem with your subscription of a purchase, you will be asked to press a number to speak to an agent who will try to get your personal details and payment details from you
    Do not connect with them, hang up and contact the company directly. If you do not have any subscriptions with them then you know its a scam and hang up immediately.

    Please  go back to the top of the section and use the arrows at the side of the section to move to the next section.

Telephone Scams
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