Litany Of Scam Warnings Issued For Isle Of Wight

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 13:18

By Dominic Kureen @WriteOnDom

Several scam alerts have been issued for the Isle of Wight today (Wednesday).

Trading Standards has listed the following scams as ones to be aware of.

World Cup Lottery Claims

A few residents have received a scam letter telling them that they have won £900,000 in the FIFA World Cup Lottery Programme.

The letter contains reference numbers (for legitimacy) it mentions lots of organisations that all sound very genuine and puts pressure on the recipient to respond or lose out.

They give telephone numbers which will probably be premium rate and will inevitably charge you an “admin fee” to release the money – which will never come.

This is a classic scam – REMEMBER if you haven’t bought a ticket you cant win and you should never have to pay money to win money!

Tax rebate scam

There are reports of scam phone calls advising residents they have tax rebates on previous collected PPI claim and that a cheque would be delivered the following week in a yellow envelope, with £200 vouchers from PAYSAFE and the caller applying pressure.

Do Not respond to these scam calls, this is courier fraud which is currently on the increase in the South.

Anyone who asks you to purchase a voucher to receive some kind of financial payment will be a scammer.

TV License emails

Be wary of emails purporting to be from TV Licence – if you check the senders email you will see that it isn’t a genuine one.

Never click on links in emails asking you to set up or amend payment details.

Friend needs a favour

Be wary of emails purporting to be from a friend or somebody in your email address book, the latest one states that your “friend” will be unable to speak over the phone as they have laryngitis but need to ask you a favour!

The scammers are using this ruse so that you wont ring your friend to confirm that its them – Never respond to an email from a friend asking for a favour – pick up the phone and ring them

Insulation and electricity scam

More reports of phone calls checking up on insulation and electricity usage – using our concerns over heating costs at this time of year to try to scam us into paying for insulation etc.

Do not engage with anyone who has called you out of the blue and do not allow them to carry out a survey on your property.

If you are concerned about making your home more energy efficient contact the Footprint Trust in Newport for advice.

Facebook sites

Be cautious when buying items on Island Facebook sites. Scammers will clone, hack or set up fake accounts offering items for sale or even for free but will then try to take a delivery charge via bank transfer.

Do some research, go and see the item, check out the seller and if something seems a bit strange don’t proceed.

Amazon scam

Scammers use large organisations for legitimacy and Amazon seems to be a favourite!

A resident has reported that he received a scam call from them asking for money owed – do not respond to these calls – Amazon will never contact you in this way.

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