CURRENT SCAMS AND OTHER INFORMATION – OCTOBER 2025

Please find attached 4 Press Releases from the Public Protection Partnership.

Consumer scam alerts - Norfolk County Council   This website gives information on numerous scams that are currently circulating and on rogue traders. 

Millions of people have been stung by scams with online shopping the top trap 

Citizens Advice have found that more than seven million UK adults have been hit by a scam in the past year, with 20% of them significantly affected by the financial loss. Another seven million adults knew of at least one other person who had been deceived by a scam, a survey for the charity suggests. 

Shopping online can save time and effort and gives you a wide choice of goods from around the world. Unfortunately, while most buyers and sellers are genuine, fraudsters use online shopping scams because they can hide their identity and target many victims at the same time.

What you can do to protect yourself

Do some research to find out what a fair or competitive price is for similar goods in the same condition; if the offer sounds too good to miss out on, it might not really exist, be fake or of inferior quality.

Fraudsters often use stock images or other people’s images, or use the same image on multiple websites/adverts. You can check if images appear elsewhere on the internet through websites like TinEye or reverse.photos. 

Check the seller or buyer’s review history and feedback from other reviewers. Beware of accounts that may have been set up very recently with lots of favourable feedback that sounds similar, this could be an indication of fake reviews.

Always use the site’s recommended payment site, if they have one, and read the terms and conditions to understand what you are protected for. If you pay any other way than via a recommended payment site, you may not be able to recover your money.

Where there is no recommended payment site, paying via credit card or known third party payment providers is preferable to direct bank transfers. Check your bank statements or online account regularly.

Make sure that the website you’re buying from is genuine – and not a fake or copycat site – by typing in the address yourself and checking the spelling. Fake addresses usually vary from authentic ones with just one or two incorrect letters.

Research sellers’ and other bidders’ selling history. And bear in mind that a website ending ‘.co.uk’ doesn’t necessarily mean it’s based in the UK. Check the address of the company and the phone number.

Don’t make payment over insecure WiFi (a public WiFi or one with no password to access).

Make sure you’re making payments on a secure site. You can check the link is secure in two ways:

The sale of disposable vapes is now illegal so if any residents are aware of anywhere still selling these types of products to inform Trading Standards. Moreover, vapes are an age restricted product so if residents are aware of retailers selling vapes or any other age restricted product to children under 18, to make contact with Trading Standards by emailing tsadvice@westberks.gov.uk . 

If there is no Neighbourhood Watch scheme currently in your road, please consider setting one up.   A scheme can be anything from 5 houses/apartments upwards or a whole road and the Coordinator will receive free signs, stickers, literature and details of discounts available to all members in the scheme.  Once a Coordinator is registered on the Police/Neighbourhood Watch database they will receive emails giving information on crimes, scams etc to pass on to their neighbours and with email or a WhatsApp group, it is so easy now to forward the Alerts.  If you would like more information, please email me on my Gmail address below.

Please note that I am no longer using my email address ajmy5m7@inbox.com and now only using my Gmail which is ajmy5m7@gmail.com. 

To report a scam call received on your iPhone, text the word ‘call’ followed by the phone number to 7726. On an Android phone, text the word ‘call’ to 7726, and you’ll then receive a message asking you for the scam number.

WhatsApp scam calls can be reported by opening the WhatsApp chat with the dodgy phone number and tapping 'block'. You can report the contact by tapping 'report contact' and 'block'.

If you have been scammed, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

If you get a suspicious looking email, you can report it to the National Cyber Security Centre by forwarding it to report@phishing.gov.uk.  Remember not to click on any links within these emails.

Angela Money BEM

Area Representative for West Berkshire Neighbourhood Watch