Appeals to the public to be vigilant after reports of scams

Police received a report yesterday, Sunday, October 16, from a member of the public who lost £1,700 in an energy discount scam.

They said they’d been contacted initially on October 8 via text, claiming to be owed £400 and went on to fill out their bank details, as advised in the text, on what turned out to be a fake website.

Yesterday, they received a call from a man claiming to be from their bank requesting confirmation of a verification code they’d sent. This was done, thinking it was legitimate, but only afterwards the person realised this was a scam and that the money was gone from their account.

In another report made recently a couple lost more than £3,000 in a Whatsapp scam. They both believed they’d sent money to a family member, but it was a scam.

Sergeant Garth Bennett said: “No matter how much money someone loses to a scammer, whether it’s £20 or £2,000, it’s a horrible experience and even more so now when people are facing rising energy costs. Scams can be incredibly convincing, which is why it’s crucial everyone is aware of the threat from scammers and what to do to ensure they don’t take your money.”

Possible approaches from scammers include making false offers of energy refunds, energy discounts, tax rebates and cost-of-living payments. All of these scams will be an attempt to get your personal or banking details.

“The easiest way to stop a scam is to apply these five rules,” said Sergeant Bennett.

“Hang up the call immediately; always delete texts requesting personal information or bank account details; never call the number back; never click on links in text messages, or respond to unsolicited texts; never ever transfer money at the request of someone you do not know. This last one is really important, and it is really key in preventing these criminals gaining access to your money and you losing out, so it’s worth reiterating – you should never transfer money to another account having received a call from someone you do not know.”

If you have lost money to a scammer, report it to police on 101, or online at www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ and to your bank immediately. You can also report to Action Fraud online at www.actionfraud.police.uk  or by calling 0300 123 2040. Information and advice is available at http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/scamwiseni or the ScamwiseNI Facebook page @scamwiseni