Three scams for the price of one today…

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First up – be on the lookout for Facebook Cloning. This isn’t a hack as such, as it just requires the spammers to copy a facbook profile and message the friends and family of the person that has been “cloned”. We actually had an instance of this last night – the spammer directed us to a page where we had apparently been granted a £100k amount, but needed to add our credit card details to validate the win. More info if you simply google “Facebook Cloning” and take your pick of the results.

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Next, George and Irene McKirdle have sent one in, thank you!  They say “Received a phone message which starts, Hi Mum, my phone has smashed and I am using my friend’s phone,please call on me on What’s app number *********. Some people have lost a lot of money doing this.” 

In both the above cases, asking a question that the scammer would not know the answer, makes it clear that the person getting in touch is not the real person! In our case we asked – How is Billy? and the scammer answered “Fine!” Of course, there was no Billy… Don’t give out any personal information or sensitive data like bank card details without being absolutely sure.

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Lastly, thank you to Chris Woodness, Ward Officer, for passing on the following:

“Please find attached a Press Release from Trading Standards Scotland warning of scams which are related to the cost of living price rises. We would be very grateful if you could please pass this information onto all of your networks and contacts to warn as many of our regions residents as possible so that they can avoid any of these crimes at a time of great financial hardship to so many.

Details are also included within the Press Release of the month long Campaign which Trading Standards Scotland are completing. They are also asking people to look out for family members, friends and neighbours who may be vulnerable and to share messages about scam awareness with them.

 

TRADING STANDARDS SCOTLAND

Scots warned of scams related to the cost of living crisis

Trading Standards Scotland has today launched a month-long campaign aimed at raising
awareness of scams linked to the ongoing cost of living crisis. As prices and bills continue to
rise, many consumers will have financial worries heading into autumn and winter.

Scammers may attempt to exploit these anxieties and to target people online and via cold
calls, emails and text messages in an attempt to obtain their personal details and bank
account information.

The campaign will run for four weeks and will focus on impersonation scams, misleading
information about energy efficiency measures, financial scams, counterfeit goods and online
shopping.

Email and text scams connected to the energy bill rebate and cost of living payments have
already been reported, as well as fake supermarket voucher and fuel card giveaways on
social media.

Doorstep scammers have been giving householders misleading information about grants
and funding for energy efficiency measures such as boilers and insulation, while some rogue
traders have taken advantage of the global shortage of construction materials to ask
customers to pay large deposits, then failing to return to carry out the work.

There have also been reports of dangerous electric devices being sold online which claim to
save money on energy bills – consumer safety charity Electrical Safety First recently tested
some of these products and found that they all failed basic safety tests, posing the risk of
fire or electric shock.

Those worried about making ends meet are also being warned to be wary of online adverts
offering ‘quick and easy’ loans or cryptocurrency investment opportunities with supposedly
high returns. These adverts often imply that the investment has been endorsed by
celebrities such as Martin Lewis.

Trading Standards Scotland recently ran the Big Scottish Scam Survey, asking Scots about
the scams they had experienced in the last year.

97% of respondents had experienced an email, text, phone, doorstep or online scam in the
last year. For those who lost money to a scam, the amounts ranged from £37 to £25,000.
Some of the most common scams were:

• Delivery scams
• HMRC scams
• Amazon scams
• Energy scams
• Covid Scams
• Prize draw/giveaway scams
• Bank scams
• Remote access scams
• Online shopping scams
• Rogue traders

79% of survey respondents had avoided a scam after seeing or reading about it, with 41%
going on to report the scam.

Cllr Maureen Chalmers, Chair of Trading Standards Scotland’s Governance Board, said:
“Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, we have seen how quickly scammers can adapt
to changing circumstances to take advantage of people’s financial worries.

“Unfortunately, as we move into the autumn and winter months, scammers are increasingly
likely to target people who are worried about paying their bills and who may be more likely
to click on links or respond to messages offering discounts on bills or investment
opportunities.

“We are delighted to be working with partners across the UK to run this month-long
awareness campaign, through which we hope to provide consumers with the knowledge
and tools they need to say no to scammers.

“We would like to remind consumers to be wary of cold callers, unsolicited emails and text
messages and online adverts offering deals, discounts and giveaways. Never accept
information offered from these sources without doing independent research, and don’t
provide any personal or financial information to a cold caller or via a link in an unsolicited
message.

“We are also asking people to look out for family members, friends and neighbours who
may be vulnerable and to share messages about scam awareness with them.”

Further information about the campaign can be found at https://www.tsscot.co.uk/cost-of-
living-scams/

Scams should be reported to Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 or through
their website: www.consumeradvice.scot.

ENDS