Warning on advance fee fraud aimed at the deaf

DEAF PEOPLE across Scotland are being warned about a fraud specifically directed at them and which has seen a Fife man lose a five-figure sum.

The advance fee fraud starts with a message from a hacked Facebook account claiming that an allowance is being given to deaf people by the Government and Action on Hearing Loss, formerly the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

A poster tells potential victims that their name is on a winners list and that they have won £120,000 and a laptop. To claim the prize they have to send personal information and pay a sum of money up front through a money transfer service.

The scam continues with delays and excuses as to why more money needs to be sent, and this continues until the victim becomes suspicious and discovers they have been defrauded.

PC Shirley Buttercase, equalities officer in Fife, said: “This is a despicable fraud aimed at vulnerable members of our society which plays on their disability and the trust they place in others.

“It is a variation of a type of fraud which goes on all the time and our advice is never to engage in anything which asks for money up front — and if something sounds too good to be true, it almost always is.”

She urged anyone who is targeted by this type of fraud to call the police on 101.