People across Gedling borough are being urged to be careful as more new scams emerge.
Action Fraud, Which? and Nottinghamshire County Council Trading Standards constantly issue scam warnings to make people aware of the latest attempts by fraudsters to get them to part with their cash or personal details.
Here are the most recent scam warnings it has issued to people across the borough.
HMRC scam text
A fake text from HMRC instructing you to call a number to ‘avoid being summoned to court’ over unpaid tax is currently doing the rounds.
This number will put you through to a scammer who will try to get your personal and payment information.
HMRC has said it does does occassionally send text messages to some of its customers, which can sometimes include links to GOV.UK or to its webchat.
Scam texts can be reported by forwarding them to 7726.
Winter Fuel Payment scams
A warning has been issued about scam messages offering extra cost of living support ahead of the colder months after a series of reports of people receiving messages claiming to offer help with winter fuel payments.
The government and local authorities have been encouraging people who may be eligible for pension credit to apply as this would mean they would still receive the Winter Fuel Payment. However, the council or government would not ask people to click on links to make a claim for anything. And those who are eligible for winter fuel payments will be paid automatically.
The scam encourages you to click on a link to ‘update’ or ‘provide’ your details to receive the payment – these details will likely include asking for your bank account information.
Virgin Media scam email
A dodgy email impersonating Virgin Media tells you that ‘potentially dangerous viruses’ have been detected on your device.
It goes on to list these viruses and includes a link to ‘fully remove these threats and secure your data.’
This link will lead to a malicious website created to download malware to your device or steal your personal information.
You can report scam emails by forwarding them to report@phishing.gov.uk.
Scam websites can be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre.
