Category: Community

With summer holidays fast approaching, individuals are often more exposed to travel booking frauds when looking for last minute package deals / cheap flights. Whether paying upfront for a family holiday or simply booking a flight, payments are transferred only to discover that the holiday / airline ticket does not exist and was sold to you by a bogus travel company. Fraudsters will often lure in potential customers with low prices and ‘one time only’ offers that are simply too good to pass up, requesting payment by the preferred method of direct bank transfer.

Protect Yourself

• Avoid responding to unsolicited calls, texts or emails offering holidays at incredibly low prices.
• Whenever possible, pay for your holiday by credit card as it offers increased protection.
• Always remember to look for the ‘https’ and locked padlock icon in the address bar before entering your payment details.
• Never feel pressured to make a booking for fear that you will miss out on this ‘low price’ opportunity. If you have never used the company before, take your time to do some online research to ensure they are reputable.
• Should you make a flight or hotel booking through a travel company, feel free to separately check with the hotel / airline that your booking does indeed exist.

If you have been affected by this, or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk

Fraudsters are impersonating telephone service providers and contacting their clients offering a phone upgrade on a low monthly payment contract. The fraudsters will glean all your personal and financial details which will then be used to contact the genuine phone provider and order a new mobile phone handset. The fraudsters will either intercept the delivery before it reaches the victim’s address or order the handset to a different address.

Protect yourself

• Never provide your personal information to a third party from an unsolicited communication.
• Obtain the genuine number of the organisation being represented and verify the legitimacy of the communication.
• If the offer is too good to be true it probably is.
• If you have provided personal information and you are concerned that your identity may be compromised consider Cifas Protection Registration.

If you have been a victim of fraud report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

With summer holidays fast approaching, individuals are often more exposed to travel booking frauds when looking for last minute package deals / cheap flights. Whether paying upfront for a family holiday or simply booking a flight, payments are transferred only to discover that the holiday / airline ticket does not exist and was sold to you by a bogus travel company. Fraudsters will often lure in potential customers with low prices and ‘one time only’ offers that are simply too good to pass up, requesting payment by the preferred method of direct bank transfer.

Avoid
Paying for a holiday / airline tickets / accommodation via direct bank transfer. No reputable company will ever request payment via this method.
Responding to unsolicited calls, texts or emails offering holidays at incredibly low prices.

Protect Yourself

• Whenever possible, pay for your holiday by credit card as it offers increased protection.
• Always remember to look for the ‘https’ and locked padlock icon in the address bar before entering your payment details.
• Never feel pressured to make a booking for fear that you will miss out on this ‘low price’ opportunity. If you have never used the company before, take your time to do some online research to ensure they are reputable.
• Should you make a flight or hotel booking through a travel company, feel free to separately check with the hotel / particular airline that your booking does indeed exist.

If you have been affected by this, or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk

FOR ALL RESIDENTS OF NORTH DORSET

THERE ARE REPORTS OF AN ONGOING SCAM WHERE BY RESIDENTS ARE RECEIVING TELEPHONE CALLS WITH A PRE RECORDED MESSAGE STATING THAT THE PERSON ANSWERING OWES THE TAXMAN AND THAT COURT PROCEEDINGS ARE BEING COMMENCED. THEY ARE THEN ENCOURAGED TO PRESS ONE TO SPEAK TO A PERSONAL ADVISOR.

THIS IS A SCAM.

PLEASE DO NOT INTERACT WITH THESE PEOPLE AND TERMINATE THE CALL ASAP

THERE ARE ALSO UNCONFIRMED REPORTS OF A SIMILAR SCAM VIA E MAIL. ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT ENGAGE.

The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro begin on 6th August 2016 and as of late June, you will be able to purchase tickets from the Rio 2016 ticket offices.  Purchasing from an unauthorised seller or a ticket tout could leave you out of pocket; not only are the tickets advertised at inflated prices, but there is also a risk that the tickets purchased are counterfeit or do not exist. Any individual with a counterfeit ticket will be refused entry.

To help protect yourself, the list of authorised sellers has been published on the official website and provides a list of trusted resellers; this can be found at www.rio2016.com. Equally, tickets purchased that are no longer needed can be sold through the Rio 2016 website for a 100% reimbursement of the amount paid if the tickets are resold.

Protect yourself

• When purchasing from another company or individual, ask questions; specifically when you will receive the ticket and what type of ticket you are purchasing.
• Pay for tickets by using a credit card or trusted payment service. Payments made by bank transfer may not be recoverable.
• Always check that the payment screen is secure by looking for the padlock symbol or making sure the website/url begins with “https”.
• If you have been affected by this, or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk

Online shopping websites are being utilised by fraudsters to advertise vehicles for sale which do not exist. After agreeing to purchase the vehicle via email with the fraudsters, buyers then receive emails purporting to be from Amazon Payments and/or Amazon Flexible Payment Service stating that their money will be held in an ‘escrow account’ (a bank account held by a third party, used as a temporary holding account during a transaction between two parties- for a 7 day ‘cooling off’ period). Once happy with the purchase the email indicates the money will be released to the seller, therefore offering ‘buyer protection’. In reality these emails are fraudulent and do not come from Amazon. The bank accounts are controlled by fraudsters.

Protect yourself

• Remember that Amazon does not provide an escrow account to purchase items.
• Meet the seller ‘face to face’ and view the vehicle before parting with any money.
• Be vigilant of emails that purport to be from genuine companies and check the ‘domain’ name of the email address for any inconsistencies.
• Check feedback online by searching the associated phone numbers or email addresses of the seller.
• If the vehicle is below market value consider whether this is an opportunity too good to be true!

If you, or anyone you know, have been affected by this fraud or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk