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Bogus
callers
Essex County Council
are urging the public to be wary of callers claiming to be council employees
conducting flood surveys.The warning comes on the back of two reports
from Essex residents claiming they had been contacted by telephone by
people claiming to be from Essex County Council carrying out surveys on
flooding.
No flood surveys are
being carried out either by Essex County Council or any third party in
the employ of the authority. Any Essex resident getting a call from somebody
claiming to be a county council employee carrying out surveys on flooding
should treat it as a bogus call.
In one incident, a member of
the public in the Frinton area reported having
taken a call from someone who claimed to work for a company on our behalf.
The caller went on to ask to speak to her children.
In a separate incident,
reported to the county council yesterday, a member of the public living
in the Basildon area took a virtually identical call from
somebody claiming to work for the county council carrying out a flooding
survey. This resident used the county council's website to check the authenticity
of the caller before contacting the county council.
Tracey Chapman, county council
cabinet member for children and families, said:
"The county council is not carrying out flooding surveys in the county
and
anybody claiming to be in our employ carrying out this work should be
regarded as a bogus caller. If any adult calls you on the telephone and
then asks to speak to your children you should hang up immediately and
report the matter to the police."
People can also contact
their telephone line provider's specialist bureau that
can arrange to have the telephone number traced.
Information
kindly sent in by Peter
Carrington, Community Safety
Co-ordinator Colchester Borough Council -
7th July 2004
Bogus
callers in Speedwell Road
A resident in Speedwell
Road, called to report that they have had two young men call round, saying
they are in the area doing electrical tests, for the council. They had
no identification and were driving a blue van. He believes they were going
to call at other addresses in Speedwell Road.
Information kindly sent in by Peter
Carrington, Community Safety
Co-ordinator Colchester Borough Council -
31st March 2004 09:19:23
Benefit
check bogus
callers
Two tenants at Joyce
Brooks House were contacted by someone last evening to say they were calling
today to carry out benefit checks. We are not at this moment sure whether
they are legitimate or not, although it does seem as if it is a scam.
The Benefits Agency, Age Concern and the Police are being contacted. It
would be very nice if these people arrive and the police can catch them
red handed. Please could you pass this on to all members of your team.
If you are aware of anyone else who may have been contacted in this way
please could you let me know as we are going to be logging bogus callers.
Information kindly sent in by Peter
Carrington, Community Safety
Co-ordinator Colchester Borough Council 12
March 2004 09:50
Bogus Phone Callers
A gentleman on the
Riverside Estate has recieved a phone call asking him to give personal
details and to confirm his name and address (they said they were The Pedigree
Food Company).
His phone number is
ex directory and when he told them he would not pass on any of his details
they made excuses and hung up.
He then dialed 1471
and the number was withheld. Please take care.You can stop a lot of these
calls as well ascut down junk mail and junk faxes by visiting and registering
at the following free services:
To
cut down unwanted telephone calls
click on this logo to register at: |
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To
cut down unwanted mail click
on this logo to register at: |
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To
cut down unwanted faxes click
on this logo to register at: |
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Or you can just call
The Telephone Preference Service.
To register tel: 08450700707.
You can also contact their head office tel: 02072913320.
More
Bogus Officials in Berechurch and Harbour
The council is undertaking
the upgrading of its homes in the above areas as part of the government
initiative called 'Decent Home Standards' the next stage will involve
St Anne's and St Andrews.
Unfortunately, a report
has been received that attempts have been made by a bogus caller to gain
access to homes by someone claiming to be an 'inspector' from the project.
All staff have ID
cards and if any tenant is in doubt they should refuse entry
to the person and call their Housing Office immediately to verify the
caller(s)
details and authorisation. If in doubt check it out.
Information kindly
sent in by Peter
Carrington, Community Safety
Co-ordinator Colchester Borough Council 27
February 2004 16:52
Car
Fraud
A member of CBC staff
has been subjected to a well-organised and very
professional car scam that even a major High Street bank didn't spot
immediately. Many thanks to the member of staff for contacting me which
helps alert our colleagues about this scam, and in all honesty, even I
might have been taken in by this one.How?
A car is advertised in a reputable car sales magazine and a potential
'buyer'
phones and asks all the right questions and negotiates a bottom line price
with a promise to bring along a banker's draft, which is as good as cash,
should the 'buyer' want the car.
This person turns up late in the afternoon and presents as a professional
business person wanting a nice car for business and travel etc. This person
is well dressed, very courteous, polite, plausible and respectful and
eventually agrees to buy the car and gives a banker's draft for £10,000
(it could be any amount) from a major High Street banking chain (building
societies are also being targeted). However, the time of the 'purchase'
is late afternoon when the bank is closing but a phone call to the bank
confirms that the banker's draft is as good as cash.
The bank draft
is presented the next morning, and is such an excellent forgery, that
even the bank/building society staff initially except it as payment! So,
even if the CBC member of staff had taken it to the bank/building society,
without handing over the car, it would still have been accepted as cash!
It would appear that
North Essex and Suffolk are being targeted at the moment for this scam.
Please consider very carefully handing over any goods you are selling
until you have formal confirmation that any cheque or banker's draft you
are given has properly cleared. You can also ask the bank/building society
to
check the banker's draft certificate number as a double safeguard. Furthermore,
don't think that an address or telephone number means the person actually
exists, and if your only point of contact is a mobile telephone number
be very
careful indeed, as most of these are 'pay as you go' and untraceable or
possibly
stolen in the first place.
Information kindly
sent in by Peter
Carrington, Community Safety
Co-ordinator Colchester Borough Council 25
February 2004 12:00
Bogus
Officials
Today at around lunchtime, a bogus official type incident occurred in
Wick Road Langham. Two males attended an address and advised that they
had come to check the drains at the address.They went round the back of
the house through the side gate but were seen not to lift up the drain.They
left after stating that the drains were o.k. The householder made enqs
with the water board etc with a negative result.Both males were wearing
workmen type jackets and left in a van. Please pass around your neighbourhood
watch members.
Information from Andy Allington Police Constable 1524 Northern Community
Policing Team Colchester - Essex. Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:31:32 -0000
Update to information
below kindly supplied by Susan Kielty of Trading Standards
I have checked this
out with BT and, surprisingly, it appears to be a scam.The
advice on how to deal with this is as follows:
Do not press any buttons on
the phone when requested to do so by the caller. If you do you will be
charged £1.50
Put the phone down. Call BT (or your telephone service provider) on 0800
661441 to register the complaint.
BT is aware of the problem
and is currently investigation the source of the complaint.
Telephone
number scam
During the evening
of 16th. February, 2004, I received a telephone call from a resident of
Colchester, indicating that she was concerned about the possible implications
of a telephone call received @ approx.1630hrs.
She is a widower and after receipt of the call, telephoned a close neighbour,
who confirmed that she had also received a similar call.
A male, with
no significant accent, but a strong voice and with no particular reason,
requested that she “held the line” for two minutes.
*NB. Considerable
noise in the background i.e. a possible Call Centre
She complied
and then he stated that she may have won either £1000 or £2000
and to find out more information, she should press a certain digit on
her telephone.
At this stage,
she felt concerned and disconnected the call.
Upon dialling
1471, she was notified that the telephone no. was withheld.
Information kindly
supplied by Colin Stiff, Crime Reduction Officer, Colchester Police 17/02/04
A
bogus caller has been reported in The Causeway, Greenstead, on Thursday
15 January.
They were trying to persuade
residents to have their drives resurfaced. Two men, one Irish, in a red
van with the word 'UNIQUE' on it and claiming to work for the council.
The resident concerned doesn't want her name mentioned, but warns the
man was very persausive and hard to get rid of.
Hello all
Please be aware of
the warning below warning against a fraudulant bank email scam.
I am aware that other banks may have had similar scams targeting their
customers so be warned!
My thanks to
Cllr Blundell and her colleagues for kindly passing this
information on.
Regards for a safe
Christmas from community safety staff at Colchester Borough Council
Peter Carrington
Community Safety Co-ordinator
Colchester Borough Council
PLEASE
BE AWARE THAT A FRAUDULENT SCAM TO VERIFY BANKING DETAILS IS IN CIRCULATION
We aware that there are a number of fraudulent e-mails
circulating
encouraging bank customers to visit websites to verify banking details.
At present we are aware that e-mails have been sent to parliamentary email
accounts purporting to be from the Natwest Bank. A notice from the Natwest
Bank states "Some internet users have recently received a fraudulent
e-mail claiming to be from NatWest and asking customers to reactivate
their online account access by entering their NatWest OnLine Banking security
details in full. NatWest would never ask customers to provide us with
this type of information by e-mail"
Please be aware if you receive an email as detailed above
do not respond and delete it immediately.
Bogus
caller in Greenstead and St Andrews
areas
Hello All
I have been contacted by colleagues in leisure services at CBC and the
Helpline who have been told that there is a bogus caller operating in
the Greenstead and St Andrews area of Colchester.
A young male with possible dark hair is claiming to be from the council
authorised to cut trees or inspect garden areas. He has been able to gain
entry to an older person's home and stolen cash. It would appear that
this male has also tried other elderly residents in the area.
Please pass this information on to your colleagues or staff where appropriate
as urgently as possible please.
Information
supplied by Peter
Carrington 19/11/03
Community Safety
Co-ordinator
Tel: 01206 282884
Fax: 01206 507814
Operation
Orlando
I have been contacted by Colchester Police regarding 'Operation Orlando'
their latest initiative regarding Drugs, in particular Cocaine and its
derivative rack Cocaine. The police are asking Neighbourhood Watch members
for any information we may have in relation to the use and dealing of
drugs in general, but particularly those mentioned.
Information of any nature is always of interest to the Police, but as
much specific information as possible needs to be given and needs to be
as descriptive and accurate as possible, (times/dates/places/descriptions
of suspects or vehicles and precise details of incident in question where
available). Any information will assist in the initial collation and ultimate
action taken as a result.
Please pass on to me any information you may have or to Colchester Police
on 01206-762212.
Information
supplied by
Carole
Dennis
CATCH
again
Hi
all
I have just received
a phone call from
an elderly lady
in New Town Area
who has just received
a phone call from
a security firm
( normally they
call themselves
Catch )
This
time they called
themselves Colchester
Security they
used exactly the
same sales speel
as Catch
They
were very persistent
they kept asking
if she would be
in in 1 hour's
time when told
she would not
let anyone in
with out a witness
present they then
asked if she would
be in tomorrow
or the next day
to which she replied
she was not interested
and put the phone
down
Please
make all people
in your area aware
of this if possible.
There
is also a report
that they are
contacting people
in the Great Clacton
area.
Report from
Carole Dennis
01/05/2003
Colchester
Borough Council does not endorse any security company.
Please be aware that
a security company by the name of CATCH is now phoning residents in Colchester
and claiming that they are acting with CBC approval to undertake security
surveys on their homes. Once in the home, this company attempts to sell
various security devices that the resident may well not require in the
first place!
Essex Trading Standards are aware of this company and their dubious sales
techniques. CBC does not endorse any security company. Should you be contacted
by this company please inform them of this fact.
Age
Concern Warning
We
received the following
message from Age
Concern England:
'We have received
several phone calls from people outside Age Concern regarding a leaflet
that appears to be put through letter boxes, mainly of residents in sheltered
housing or living on estates.
We understand the
leaflet is notifying them of a grant of £150 from Age Concern and
advising them in some cases to contact their 'manager' and supply them
with their National Insurance number.
We do not know where
this is coming from and feel that you should be aware of it. We have advised
enquirers that on no account should they pass on their National Insurance
number to anyone, and that any grants from Age Concern would come directly
from our Grants Unit or from Age Concern. Currently, Age Concern have
no grants of this kind.'
Thanks go to Peter
Simpson of Age Concern Colchester for this warning.
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