Our Trading Standards team are hearing increasing reports of scams relating to the Coronavirus Crisis. Today a new scam emerged when a local resident reported a phone call they had received from someone claiming to be calling from their bank and offering them a 3 month mortgage and credit card repayment holiday because of the current crisis. The caller asked for bank account and card details in order to process the repayment 'holiday'. The resident didn't have this information to hand and the caller hung up.
COVID-19 scams identified include:
Doorstep crime
- Criminals targeting older people on their doorstep and offering to do their shopping. Thieves take the money and do not return.
- Doorstep cleansing services that offer to clean drives and doorways to kill bacteria and help prevent the spread of the virus.
Online scams
- Email scams that trick people into opening malicious attachments, which put people at risk of identity theft with personal information, passwords, contacts and bank details at risk. Some of these emails have lured people to click on attachments by offering information about people in the local area who are affected by coronavirus.
- Fake online resources – such as false Coronavirus Maps – that deliver malware such as AZORult Trojan, an information stealing program which can infiltrate a variety of sensitive data. A prominent example that has deployed malware is ‘corona-virus-map[dot]com’.
Refund scams
- Companies offering fake holiday refunds for individuals who have been forced to cancel their trips. People seeking refunds should also be wary of fake websites set up to claim holiday refunds.
Counterfeit goods
- Fake sanitisers, face masks and Covid19 swabbing kits sold online and door-to-door. These products can often be dangerous and unsafe. There are reports of some potentially harmful hand sanitiser containing glutaral (or glutaraldehyde), which was banned for human use in 2014.
Telephone scams
- As more people self-isolate at home there is an increasing risk that telephone scams will also rise, including criminals claiming to be your bank, mortgage lender or utility company.
Donation scams
- There have been reports of thieves extorting money from consumers by claiming they are collecting donations for a COVID-19 ‘vaccine’.
Loan sharks
- Illegal money lenders are expected to prey on people’s financial hardship, lending money before charging extortionate interest rates and fees through threats and violence
National Trading Standards have issued the following Press Release:
https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/GbKVCoQKJTro9r8H7Vc5o?domain=nationaltradingstandards.uk/
Thames Valley Police have also issued this Press Release:
https://www.thamesvalleyalert.co.uk/da/315300/Covid-19_related_scams.html
You can report these scams to your local Citizens Advice Centre - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
NOTES:
The Public Protection Partnership is a shared service of Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and Wokingham Borough Council delivering Environmental Health, Licensing and Trading Standards Services to 450,000 Berkshire residents.
