Having talked us through ways to secure our homes and property, the Police and Community Support Officers who visited in December then went on to talk about that bane of digital life, the scam.
For the criminal, scams are much less effort and risk than burglary. What's the worst that can happen? We hang up the phone or delete the email. Scammers are after an easy target. That's why they traditionally go after the elderly and vulnerable. That said, scams are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated - the Nigerian prince offering to send you $$$ is a thing of the past - so we all need to be aware and ready to be sceptical about what we see. Whilst most of us are prepared by nature to trust our neighbours, in the world of online and telephone communications it pays to be distrustful.
The first red flag is the call or message out of the blue. The caller may claim to be from your bank, from Sky or even from HMRC but sadly the call is likely to be a scam. Other warning signs are requests by phone or email to transfer money, time pressured tactics and requests to reveal your personal information. Legitimate companies will have this kind of wording in their emails:
"We will never send specific details of your accounts or investments by email. Always be wary of emails asking for personal or security details. We will never ask you to disclose or confirm sensitive personal or security information, including your password by email."
If you receive a message asking for any sensitive information, it's a scam. If you receive any suspicious calls or messages, ignore, delete or hang up. Some of us will have received silent calls where the line appears dead. Most of these are automated scams where your number as been fed automatically into their software. However, recently some of these have used AI to capture your voice and use it to steal your identity. Say as little as possible when you answer the phone and if there is silence or a digital voice, just hang up. If you are getting regular nuisance calls, you can use the Telephone Preference Service to remove your number from the public directory.
Don't click on links in email or text messages unless you are 100% sure who they are from. When you're paying online for something look for the padlock symbol in the web address or check that the address is https, a higher security standard. Reputable traders will go out of their way to reassure you they are legitimate. Report scammers to the police or Action Fraud. The Action Fraud website is also a great source of information on the latest scams.
Door knocking scams and rogue traders
Be suspicious of door knockers. You'll perhaps have heard of the Nottingham Knockers who are dropped off by the vanload often a long way from hime. They may claim to be ex prisoners who are trying to make a living but the best you'll get is some very low quality cleaning products. At worst, they will be sizing up your property and your security (next time you open your front door, think about what people can see behind you). Some may even be distracting you while their mate breaks in round the back. If in doubt don't get into a conversation: just shut the door and call 101 or report through Thames Valley Police website.
We will all have seen TV shows about rogue traders, fraudsters who claim to do domestic work but end up charging a lot for shoddy or non-existent work. Your best option is to use a known local supplier and we have a directory of them here. If you do have someone knock the door and offer to clean your drive or prune your trees (and we do have locals offering both those services in our directory) take a leaflet and say you may call them back. That gives you time to check them out on one of the numerous trusted trader websites. Don't be pressurised into handing over a job just because they're in the area. In fact, any pressure sales tactic however slight, should be a red flag.
Protecting your relatives
Scammers target the elderly and vulnerable whether that's will a persuasive call or email. We may think we wouldn't fall for it but do we have relatives who might? If you have a parent or relative showing signs of frailty or dementia, power of attorney could be a way to protect them. It can be a difficult conversation to have but maybe you could be a co-signatory on their bank account. You might also consider advising the bank that they are vulnerable. This should mean security checks are greater if large sums of money or unusual transactions are involved.
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