Norfolk Police urge public to be vigilant against 'cost of living' scamsters
Our service have told us they're seeing more cases of people posing as energy providers
Norfolk Police are urging us to check on family and friends this winter- with fraudsters continuing to try and take advantage of rising costs.
Our service have told us they're seeing more cases of people posing as energy providers, to try and scam people out of money.
"Encourage them to call you as a family member first"
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Joyce says we can all help to stamp this out:
"Keep a close eye on your family. Keep a close on those that are close to you. Make sure that people have got time to think and that you are there to support them. Encourage those family members to call you if they got cold called and check, so if someone arrives at their door-step or sends them an email encourage them to call you as a family member first and say should I reply to this?"
"A lot those that we are seeing in relation to 'Cost of Living', are energy providers, scam emails from people saying that if you click this link that will gather personal details and we will arrange for emergency payments on your behalf. Or cold calls, phone calls and texts from people posing to be from energy companies."
"It is something that we are always going to keep an eye on"
He went on to tell us that this isn't translating into a rise of serious crime, like burglaries:
"We haven't seen anything like that yet- not based on any of the figures that I've seen. But it is something that we are always going to keep an eye on. As money gets tighter with people it may result in more criminality from those areas of society that might wish to do so".