Crisis is real but ‘saviours’ are not

FRAUDSTERS are taking advantage of the cost of living crisis with a range of scams aimed at those who are struggling to make ends meet.

The head of the specialist police unit for fraud has put out a warning about this.

Here are the most common scams readers have told me about:

ENERGY SWAPS

The cost of energy has gone through the roof and many people are reporting that their monthly direct debits have doubled.

It is therefore going to be enticing if you are told that you can reduce your costs, as Lisa from St Helens, Merseyside discovered.

She received an email purportedly from an energy comparison site.

It stated that the site had an exclusive deal with two suppliers that could offer tariffs cheaper than the current price cap.

Lisa jumped at the chance and clicked the link in the email that led her to an online form to complete. It was a scam, as she discovered when she asked me about it.

COUNCIL TAX REBATES

The Government announced a council tax rebate for all properties in bands A to D earlier in the year.

Fraudsters have latched on to this, as Liam, in Southampton, found out. He received a text message headed: “Claim your £150 council tax rebate today”.

The message went on to explain that claiming the cash was easy and simply involved clicking a link and completing a form and providing bank details.

However, Liam got suspicious as the text did not say who it was from so he sent me a copy and asked for my view.

Clearly it was a scam.

COVID LOANS

Throughout the pandemic, the Government has made various loan schemes available to businesses.

The idea has inspired crooks to con individuals by sending out waves of emails offering cheap loans and grants.

Adam, from North London, received one of these emails. The message said “EVERYONE WILL BE ACCEPTED” and went on to explain that the interest rate was 1% and there would be no repayments for three years.

This is just what he needed so he quickly clicked the link and provided all his details; name, address, date of birth, bank details, national insurance number and his partner’s details.

He also made what was described as an admin fee payment of £45.99.

Of course no loan monies materialised so Adam quickly knew he had been scammed. However, he had thought the extent of the scam was the loss of his £45.99 but it then got worse.

The fraudsters used his details to copy his identity, taking out credit in his name and causing havoc with his credit file.

‘GET RICH QUICK’ SCHEMES

The promise of making quick cash can be very enticing, as Georgina, from Nottingham, explained to me.

Georgina is a single mother of two young children and is finding it hard to meet all of her financial commitments.

She received an email last December which she believed to have come from an official government department.

It said the Government was allowing individuals to pay £10 per week into the Government’s overseas gold fund and that on June 1 2022 the investment would be paid back along with a guaranteed return of £500.

Georgina tells me she didn’t give it a second thought. She asked her mum for a loan to pay the £10 per week and signed up and proceeded to make the payments.

When making her payment at the start of May it was rejected by the recipient bank as the account had been closed down. She then discovered it had all been a scam.

As I always say, if it sounds too good to be true it is almost certainly a scam.

And NEVER click a link in an email or text without first researching that the sender is genuine.