Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Fraud Safeguarding Team is reminding Islanders to be aware of unexpected calls, which could be a scam. If you are contacted by anyone and told to move your money to keep it safe, stop. This is always a scam. Criminals will tell you your money is at risk, and you need to move it to keep it safe. That is not true. In 2023, it is estimated that victims transferred an average of £6,720 to criminals through this type of scam. But that’s just an average – they will steal whatever money is in your account. Protect your money with some simple steps · Screen your calls – do not answer calls from unknown or withheld numbers – if it is anyone important they will leave a message. Don’t automatically a call from a local number is trustworthy – criminals “spoof” local numbers (hide the real caller ID) to trick you into answering their calls. · If you get a voicemail or text message purporting to be from a bank, police, HMRC, Action Fraud, or other government agency, organisation, or business – check before contacting the caller – it could be a scam. · If the call/text is purporting to be from police – phone 101 or Contact us | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and chose “Something Else” and then “Contact a specific officer or member of staff”. It might cause a short delay, but it that delay saves you from being scammed – it’s well worth waiting. · If the call is purporting to be from your bank/building society, dial 159 to return the call. This is a safe and secure number. It will connect you straight through to your bank or building society. · HMRC state they will never leave a voicemail threatening legal action, or threaten arrest. For more information about HMRC scams advice see: Identify tax scam phone calls, emails and text messages – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) · Amazon rarely phone customers, they have a “Report a scam” page with more information: Report a scam – Amazon Customer Service Banks, police, HMRC and other government agencies will never ask you to move money to keep it safe. No other organisation will either. If this happens, it will be a scam. If you realise you’ve been scammed and wish to report a fraud that has already happened, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/. If a crime is in progress, and/or you are in fear for yourself or someone else, and/or there is evidence in situ that could be damaged destroyed, phone 999 immediately. Otherwise, report online at https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/.
ISLANDERS TOLD TO BE AWARE OF UNEXPECTED CALLS THAT COULD BE A SCAM
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“If you are contacted by anyone and told to move your money to keep it safe, stop. This is always a scam.”
How can there still be people who fall for obvious scams like this?
Any phone call stating that your money is at risk and you have to move your money to a ‘secure’ account OR your credit card company saying there is suspicious activity on your account should be dismissed as a scam. ANY suspected fraaudulent activity on your account will have already been flagged by your C/C fraud department. DON’T get pannicked into doing something on the spur of the moment, no matter how convincing the person is on the other end of the phone.
Simply hang up/terminate the call and call the number on the back of your debit card or credit card and call that number.
DON’T be fooled by the caller saying they are putting you through to their fraud department.That DOESN’T happen in real banking!!!
Reading the Echo above regarding Scam phone calls, there is a lot of good information; however, one piece of advice surprised me. Over the past year my wife and I have had several phone calls from St Mary’s hospital and they are all WITHELD numbers. For your own good please be aware that not all withheld numbers are scams, you do not want to miss an important call regarding your health.
I agree, telling people not to answer “withheld number” calls is stupid. More and more public service providers are now withholding the number they are calling from, presumably because they don’t want people to be able to disturb them by being able to call them back. As you say, these calls are often important.
The scammers don’t use ‘number witheld’ Police and NHS do so answer it.
In fact most real scammers don’t withhold their numbers (they fake them) precisely because people tend to ignore those because they assume they are scams.
Kind of ironic.
I don’t usually like to answer unknown callers, but my doctors and the hospital often call with “private number” displayed on my phone. Obviously I don’t want to miss these calls, so have no choice but to answer them.It would be very helpful if they could display their number. -‘Just a thought.
It wouldn’t be helpful to them- they would end up with never ending pointless calls. Just answer the call- you’ll know within a couple of seconds if the caller really needs to talk to you – as opposed to a scammer.