Postcodes among worst in region for scam calls

PEOPLE living in two postcode areas of the county are among the worst in the southwest for receiving scam phone calls - and losing cash to conmen.

GL51 in Cheltenham and GL20 in Tewkesbury are third and fourth on the top 10 most affected postcode areas in the region, losing on average £178 per scam.

Vishing calls are the most common type of scam phone calls, with callers posing as representing bona fide companies to cheat people out of money.

To aid consumers in identifying scammers, business broadband experts at Bionic, have analysed data from the Information Commissioner’s Office and Action Fraud, to discover which regions are targeted most frequently with scam calls and are cheated out of the most money as a result.

Data from the south west reveals that the region lost £32,900 across the last 13 months, with 178 phone scam reports. In the GL51 area, there were 43 scam calls where money was taken, while in GL20 around Tewkesbury, there were 36.

However, it was Wiltshire which fell prey to the most expensive phone scams, losing £10,200 to 23 different scams, meaning the average cost of a scam here was £443, far above the region’s average.

Broadband scams were by far the most common type of vishing call, including in the southwest, while many cities reported high numbers of calls claiming to be able to save consumers’ money on their energy bills. Other common scams include insurance, accident claims, debt management, banking and computer scams.

Scammers seem to be preying on growing anxiety over skyrocketing prices with the price cap set to increase again in October by an estimated 65 percent. This was the 2nd most common type of scam overall.

This study also found that there was £1.8m in losses due to scam calls in the UK across the last 13 months. Of this, £520,700 was lost by organisations and businesses.