Citizen's Advice Q&A

A Citizen’s Advice.

A new column in which a local expert from Citizen’s Advice will answer a question from the public. This Month: Falling for a Scam.

Q: I received an email from a holiday company I had never heard of before offering me cheap flights to Portugal if I paid in full by midnight. Our daughter lives in Lisbon so I was very tempted but my wife said it was probably a scam. What do you think?

A: We think it was almost certainly a scam so well done for not getting caught out. A ‘scam’ is a scheme to try to steal money, personal information or data from a person or organisation. Other names for a scam include fraud, hoax, con, swindle and cheat.

Citizens Advice research found that almost threequarters of people have been targeted by scammers in the last two years, either via mail, phone calls, text messages, emails, online or face-to-face but 7 out of 10 of people targeted by a scam do not tell anyone about it.

It might be a scam if...

• it seems too good to be true – for example, a holiday that’s much cheaper than you’d expect • someone you don’t know contacts you unexpectedly • you suspect you’re not dealing with a real company – for example, if there’s no postal address • you’ve been asked to transfer money quickly • you’ve been asked to pay in an unusual way – for example, by iTunes vouchers or through a transfer service like MoneyGram or Western

Union • you’ve been asked to give away personal information like passwords or PINs • you haven’t had written confirmation of what’s been agreed

Scams advice

This year, Scams Awareness Fortnight runs from 14-27 June. Protecting people against scams is more important than ever. Many people are in vulnerable situations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic - from employment and debt, to housing and health. Scammers are taking advantage of this, so it’s vital people have the knowledge and tools they need to protect themselves. There are four things you can do if you suspect you are the target of a scam: • If payment or banking details are involved, your first step should be to contact your bank or credit card company. If the scam is a pension transfer, you need to contact the provider immediately, along with the Pensions Advisory Service.

• Get advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133. You can also get advice and information online at www. citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer .

• Report scams and suspected scams to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at www.actionfraud. police.uk. Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and internet crime.

• Tell family, friends, neighbours so that they can avoid scams and find out how to protect themselves.