Lancashire Trading Standards - Consumer Alerts January 2023

Consumer Alerts January 2023

Beware claims you have damp in your home.

Residents in the Chorley area have reported receiving phone calls from a man claiming to know that there is a lot of damp in their house. He then asks if he can come round and check the inside of the house, including the attic. When one householder said they would pass the phone to their son, the man ended the call at once.

Please do not get drawn into conversation with cold callers - just say no and put the phone down. Be wary of letting anyone you do not know into your house, regardless of any offers they may give you relating to insulation and damp proofing.

If you believe you have a problem with damp in your home do your own research and call traders yourself. A good tip is to search online for reviews of traders before employing them. If possible, use know local trades people.

Trading Standards advice is to always say no to cold callers. The Safetrader scheme can help you find a trader in your area, contact 0303 333 1111 or go to www.safetrader.org.uk

Big Brand Scam Emails

Beware receiving an email impersonating big brands such as Amazon, Currys, Aldi and Asda. The emails suggest you have won a prize, a gift voucher for £500 or sometimes more, or claim you have been chosen to enter a loyalty programme and invite you to click onto a link. The emails imply the offer is for a limited time or the reward is for a limited number of people, urging shoppers to respond quickly.

Close inspection will show the email has not come from a legitimate email address. However, the scammers have taken this a step further and examples have been found where the email address is spoofed to look like it has come from the genuine retailer.

These scams are all trying to gather personal information. If you believe you may have entered sensitive information such as your bank details into a third-party site via a suspicious email, get in touch with your bank.

Suspected scam 'lost parcel' email.

If a parcel or goods you were expecting to arrive has got lost in the post or has simply never arrived, please remember, in most situations your contract is with the business you bought the goods from, and you need to go back to them to claim your money back, not the parcel delivery company.

This reminder follows after a Lancashire consumer received an email alleging to be from a parcel delivery company, supposedly relating to goods they had ordered that had never arrived. On replying to the email, the customer was offered a percentage of the value of the goods as a refund. This sounds like a scam email phishing for bank account details.

Suspicious phishing emails can be forwarded to report@phishing.gov.uk

Contact the Trading Standards Service via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133

Further information about current scams can be found on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/StanleyDards/