18/04/24
Welcome to the latest edition of the Scam Share bulletin.
Stay Scam Aware and please keep sharing any relevant information in this bulletin with friends and family.
As part of the nationwide Shut out Scammers campaign, a Scam Awareness van will be travelling around the country over the next couple of months. There will be a variety of community engagement and information events to raise awareness of doorstep crime. The van will be around the Glasgow area from 15-26 April. Keep an eye on our social media channels to find out when it will be near you!
Suspicious Text Messages
If you receive a suspicious text message you can forward it to 7726. The free-of-charge ‘7726’ service enables your provider to investigate and take action if malicious content is found.
Recently Reported Scams
Gardening Scams
The Scam
This week, the Shut Out Scammers campaign is focused on maintenance and home improvement scams.
The spring months always see an increase in scams related to gardening, where cold callers offer to cut trees, tidy gardens or clear gutters They often ask for money on the spot, either as a deposit or to pay for materials, but don't return to complete the work.
In one recent case, a cold caller knocked on a woman’s door and said he was there to cut down a tree. She had recently spoken with her neighbour about having a tree cut down and assumed that this had been prearranged.
After about 90 minutes of work the man asked for £1,850. The woman reluctantly gave him £700 and he said he’d visit her neighbour to collect the rest.
He left the garden in a mess, and the woman later discovered that her neighbour had not arranged for the man to carry out the work. He had not visited them to collect any money.
Another rogue trader offered to carry out gardening work for an older couple. They asked him to do some basic paving and tree trimming, for which he asked for a payment of £500 in cash to pay for for materials. Once he had been paid, he left, claiming that he was going to a builders merchants. He didn’t return to carry out the work.
How to Avoid
Any unsolicited trader who offers to carry out work on your property must give you their business name and address.
Don't agree to let a cold caller start work straight away - do plenty of research into their company and, if something doesn’t look right, don’t deal with them
Rather than dealing with cold callers, find traders who have been vetted through a national or local authority approved trader scheme at www.trustedtrader.scot.
Report any suspicious behaviour to Police Scotland on 101 or 999 in an emergency. If you have concerns about a purchase that you have made, contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 or via scamwatch.scot.
Find out More
Find traders in Scotland who have been vetted by Trading Standards:www.trustedtrader.scot
The Scam
Some of the most frequently reported doorstep scams relate to roofing, where a cold caller says that urgent repair or maintenance work is required.
Last month, cold callers knocked on a woman's door and told her that they had noticed a loose slate on her roof. She agreed to let them fix it there and then.
However, when they came down from the roof, they had taken pictures showing significant damage (which she now believes were not of her property's roof) and told her that the whole roof would need to be replaced.
They quoted a price of £22,000 and she reluctantly agreed to go ahead with the work as she was worried about the state of the roof. She paid £7,000 up front and a team of men arrived and did a couple of day's work on the roof.
She then paid another installment of £7,500. At this point, the workers removed the scaffolding and disappeared, leaving the work incomplete. She was unable to contact them via phone or email and hadn't been given a business address. She has now reported the matter to the police.
Another couple who had recently moved into a new property were cold called by a builder who offered to check over the house. He claimed that urgent work needed carried out, including a full roof replacement and new floor boards at a total cost of £7,000. The couple agreed to pay this amount upfront.
The builder kept making excuses to delay the work, saying that he couldn’t get the correct materials and asking for more money to order them. The couple ended up paying a further £8,000 for materials that never arrived.
They began to suspect that they were being scammed and spoke to neighbours, some of whom had also lost money after dealing with the same builder. They also reported the matter to the police.
How to Avoid Any unsolicited trader who offers to carry out work on your property must give you their business name and address.
Don't agree to let a cold caller start work straight away - do plenty of research into their company and, if something doesn’t look right, don’t deal with them.
If a trader starts work on your property without being authorised and then demands payment, report them to Police Scotland.
Rather than dealing with cold callers, find traders who have been vetted through a national or local authority approved trader scheme at approvedtrader.scot
Rogue traders often imply that urgent work is required in order to pressure householders into making a decision quickly. Always take time to think before making a decision - don't agree to make any payments for goods or services on the spot.
Sign up for Neighbourhood Watch Scotland Alerts to stay up to date with what is going on in your community: www.neighbourhoodwatchscotland.co.uk
Report any suspicious behaviour to Police Scotland on 101 or 999 in an emergency.
Report scams to Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 or via scamwatch.scot.
The Scam
There have been several recent reports of cold callers offering to carry out work on properties including gardening and driveway cleaning.
One man paid cold callers £700 in cash to clean his slabs. They took the money but left after only doing about 10 minutes of work. A couple of days later, one of the men returned and claimed that the money was fake and they were still owed £300.
When the homeowner refused to pay, he said he would drop it to £150. The homeowner then told him he would contact the police, at which point he left the property.
In another case, a woman was in her garden when a man came down the street and told her that he was in the area doing power washing. She agreed to have her driveway cleaned and three other men appeared almost immediately with tools.
The cold caller charged her £850 and asked her to pay when they were halfway through the job. After she gave them the money, they left, supposedly to pick up more tools, and said they would return later that afternoon. They left the driveway in a mess and didn’t return.
We have published a video featuring a case study from a Scottish consumer who was cold called by rogue traders who said they had been working for the local council and had some tarmac left over with which they could resurface his driveway. Although they said the materials were free, they ended up charging him £9,000 for labour costs. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/bSOdXRUH_aM
How to Avoid Any unsolicited trader who offers to carry out work on your property must give you their business name and address.
Don't agree to let a cold caller start work straight away - do plenty of research into their company and, if something doesn’t look right, don’t deal with them.
If a trader starts work on your property without being authorised and then demands payment, report them to Police Scotland.
Rather than dealing with cold callers, find traders who have been vetted through a national or local authority approved trader scheme at approvedtrader.scot
Report any suspicious behaviour to Police Scotland on 101 or 999 in an emergency.
Report scams to Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 or via scamwatch.scot.
Find out more
Find traders in Scotland who have been vetted by Trading Standards:approvedtrader.scot
If you are looking for a trader online, remember that reviews can be faked.
During the cost of living crisis, there has been a surge in rogue traders who have good ratings on online review websites, but take deposits and then fail to return to complete the work as agreed.
Some of the most frequently reported recent scams have been linked to windows and bathrooms.
The trader will often ask for a deposit of up to 50%, supposedly to allow them to purchase materials. They then continue to delay the start of the work, telling the customer that there are difficulties in obtaining the materials.
In some cases, they end up cutting off all contact with the customer, keeping the deposit and failing to complete any work.
How to Avoid Do plenty of research into a company before dealing with them. Ensure that you have the trader’s business name and address - you can find details about their company via Companies House at www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company.
Check reviews on at least 3 different sites. Look out for these signs of fake reviews:
Timing and spacing – check for multiple similar reviews that have been uploaded within a few minutes or hours.
Reviewer’s history – check out the reviewer’s activity – if an account has been activated recently or has only reviewed a narrow range of products/services, this could indicate suspicious activity.
Vague language – legitimate reviews will often be personal and specific to the individual’s experience of using the item, whilst a fake is more likely to be vague, using generic words and phrases such as ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’ or ‘buy this product’.
Look beyond the star rating – whilst a star rating of 4.5 or 5 can be a good indicator of quality, don’t go by this alone – look at the reviews too and check them against these tips.
Where possible, pay using acredit card rather than via bank transfer – this will offer you more protection if you experience fraud or if something goes wrong.
Be suspicious if a trader will only give you the option to pay by cash or bank transfer.
Before making any payments, check the terms and conditions of the contract and the cancellation policy. Find out more about your consumer rights at www.consumeradvice.scot/knowledge-centre or call Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000.
The Scam
There have been recent reports of scammers sending unsolicited emails in which they offer loans of up to £5,000.
One consumer replied to the email and asked for more information. They were asked to pay £440, supposedly to 'prove their creditworthiness'.
They paid this, but were then asked to pay over £1,200 in three further installments for insurance, tax and 'currency conversion purposes'.
This is known as loan fee fraud or advance fee fraud and is a common scam where people are conned into paying a fee for a loan. Scammers often target people who have applied for loans online, contacting them unexpectedly and offering the money they need.
Before providing the loan they’ll ask for an upfront payment as a deposit, administrative fee or insurance. They might claim this is necessary because you have a bad credit history.
They’ll often put pressure on you to pay the fee quickly via a bank transfer or by purchasing a voucher, for example from Google Play, Amazon or Ebay. Some scammers may ask for payments to be made via crypto exchanges.
Although they might say that the fee is refundable, once you've made the payments you won't receive the loan – or a refund on the fee.
How to Avoid
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is urging consumers looking for a loan to do a 3-step check to protect themselves from scams:
If you are cold called or emailed, it could be a scam.
If you’re asked to pay an upfront fee, it could be a scam.
If you’re asked to pay quickly or unusually, it could be a scam.
If you need to apply for a loan, check the information on the FCA’s website. This includes checking the FCA Register to find out if the firm you are applying to for a loan is authorised. If the firm is not authorised, it is likely to be a scam.
You can also check the FCA's warning list of firms they know to be operating without permission or running scams. If a firm appear on this list it is because the FCA has identified that they are operating without their authorisation: www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart/warning-list
Find information on dealing with loan sharks and finding financial support on the Scottish Illegal Money Lending Unit's website: www.stopillegallending.co.uk
The Scam
According to our Big Scottish Scam Survey, the most common scams are related to deliveries, with 55% of respondents having experienced a delivery scam last year.
One recent scam text message reads:
"EVRI mail package in process of transportation due to damage to the outer package, address information is lost, can not be delivered. Please be sure to update the delivery address information in the link within 12 hours."
Another recent scam email asks you to pay a storage fee for an undelivered package. It reads:
“We are writing to inform you that your package has been in storage for an extended period of time due to a damaged shipping label. As a result, we kindly request that you take immediate action and follow the link provided below to pay the storage fee of £50.00 within the next 72 hours.”
It says that, if you do not pay the £50 fee, there will be a daily charge of £10 added to the account until the package is collected and that failure to pay the storage fee within 72 hours will result in a fine.
The links in these messages lead to malicious websites which use branding of legitimate delivery companies and ask you to enter your contact and payment details, either to pay a storage fee or to arrange to have the parcel redelivered.
How to Avoid
Legitimate parcel delivery services will not contact you unexpectedly to ask for personal or payment details.
If you receive an unexpected message about a parcel delivery, don't click on any links or attachments or follow any instructions to download an app to your phone.
Evri have confirmed that they would never ask for a payment via text message or email.
If you are expecting a parcel, track the delivery on the company’s official website rather than using links or contact details provided in an unexpected message.
App - short for 'application', refers to a software program for computers or other devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Malware - malicious software that is designed to damage or gain unauthorised access to a computer or other device.
Phishing - the practice of sending fraudulent emails which often appear to be from well-known organisations or companies and ask the recipient to provide personal information or to visit a particular website.
QR Code - a square barcode that a smartphone camera can scan and read to provide quick access to a website or app.
Ransomware - malware that makes data or systems unusable until the victim makes a payment.
Remote Access - the ability to access a computer or device from another location. Anyone with remote access to a device can access all files stored on it.
Smishing - the same as phishing, but carried out via SMS (text) messages rather than emails.
Software - the set of instructions and programs that tells a computer how to operate.
Virus - a computer program designed to infect and damage legitimate software.
Official Contacts
If you feel threatened or unsafe, contact Police Scotland on 101 or 999 in an emergency.
