Online shopping scams tops fraud concerns in Lincolnshire

People impersonating someone from a bank or the police force is also causing worries

Online shopping scams tops fraud concerns in Lincolnshire
Author: Andy MarshPublished 27th Mar 2024
Last updated 27th Mar 2024

Lincolnshire Police say they're very concerned about the levels of fraud they're uncovering with online shopping scams topping the list of worries.

It's the most common type of fraud they deal with although the most harmful types of fraud taking place are police and bank impersonations.

Gillian Fleet is part of Lincolnshire police's fraud prevention team and spoke to us about fraud in the county.

She said: "People are either buying from a website that isn't a genuine website, buying things from a social media sites - so they might be ordering goods that never show up or selling goods where someone will come and collect and potentially show them a banking app to say they've paid when they haven't."

The biggest thing is people need to talk about it more

"Fraud is very under reported so we want people to report it."

"Some people feel embarrassed that it's happened to them but it's a crime and we're there to support them if they have been a victim."

"We go out and do lots of community talks so we'll raise awareness of fraud, talk about how people can protect themselves - things to watch out for."

"But the biggest thing is people need to talk about it more - people don't necessarily talk about it."

"The most harmful ones we see are police impersonation or bank impersonation frauds."

"People will receive a call saying they're from the bank or the police saying they've had some money taken out of their account."

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