West Yorkshire Trading Standards have been in touch with news of another scam:
Officers have been made aware of a fraudulent phone call, purporting to be from the Secure Fraud Unit at a well-known high street bank. The bogus caller went on to say that the victims account was subject to fraudulent activity and that he needed to send them money so that they could catch whoever was involved.
Frighteningly, the victim was told not to say anything to anyone, but to send large sums of money to the criminals. He sent a payment of £1500 by money order and the following day sent a further £1500, again by money order.
The criminals, not satisfied with £3000, went on to request a further payment, still claiming to be able to catch whoever was involved in the fraud. Struggling to afford these payments, the victim took out a bank loan, claiming that ne needed some extra cash for home improvements, totalling £3000, which he also sent by money order.
It was only when the victim tried to take out a further loan a few days later, to send on to the fraudsters, that the bank became aware of the problem. The victim is now responsible for the repayments of the loans he has taken out, it is not yet known if these loans were secured, meaning that there is a real risk that this innocent victim could lose property if the repayments are not kept up.
Please share this information with your friends, family members and colleagues. Roughly half of us will have been targeted by a scam, with around one in 15 responding, losing huge amounts of money to criminals, preying on the most vulnerable in our community.
You can report a fraud to Action Fraud by using the online fraud reporting tool at www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-a-fraud-including-online-crime-questions or by speaking to an advisers on 0300 123 2040.
To get involved in our Financial Fitness workshops, raising awareness of scams and fraud across South Leeds, contact Dawn on 0113 393 9819 or email dmason@wyjs.org.uk
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