Public urged to be on high alert over scammers

 

Police are urging the public to be on their guard against scammers who continue take advantage of older and more vulnerable people within our community.
From April to July we have received almost 300 reports in relation to HMRC scams, with scammers getting over £11,000 in June and July alone.
In one incident recently a man in Dungannon received a phone call from a male claiming to be from the HMRC and who told the victim he owed them a significant amount of money.
The man was instructed to purchase ten Amazon vouchers at a cost of £100 each and send pictures of these vouchers to a number via Whatsapp – he did this and was unfortunately scammed out of £1,000.
In a statement Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said that scammers have once again shown that they are creative and will do whatever they can to con people out of money.
They don’t care who their victim is, they just want the money and will employ whatever tactic is necessary.
Police are urging people to take extra precautions to protect themselves from such callous callers.
Be sceptical and on your guard, if you think something is suspicious about the nature of the call, it usually is a scam.