Council warns of Christmas scams

Argyll & Bute Council has warned people to be watchful for a range of Christmas scams out to rip off the unwary and the instinctively generous at this time of year.

The sort of fraud the Trading Standards team have in mind include:

• emails, telephone calls, letters or even documents posted through your letter box, promising you something in return for you paying in advance – putting a cheque in the post; giving your bank account details; phoning a premium rate number…
• you may find a trader on your doorstep pressuring you to buy goods or services you don’t need and don’t want – and there may be a sob story to act on your humanity at Christmas;

The Council recently received a complaint from a local resident who had been visited by two men in a black pick up truck, offering to tar his driveway. The men handed over a business card, the address of which was later discovered to be fictitious.

Councillor Daniel Kelly, Chair of the Council’s Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee, puts it in a nutshell:

‘If you are being promised something which seems too good to be true, there’s a fair chance that there’s a catch in it somewhere.

‘Our advice to everyone is to be very, very careful in checking things out before acting on them.  Do not send money or bank account details to anyone who has contacted you out of the blue – and never buy from people who turn up unannounced at your house.

‘If you are approached by people offering to carry out work on our property, the first thing you should do is take a note of their vehicle’s number plate. This will help the police to follow it up should they become involved at any stage.

‘There are itinerant traders in the area at the moment who are offering to do work which in fact does not need doing. I am concerned that homeowners – in particular the elderly – may become concerned unnecessarily and feel pressurised to have the work done, often at exorbitant cost’.

The big thing – the real security for everyone – is that if you have any doubt about a product or service being offered to you:

• call the Council’s Trading Standards team on 01546 604404
• or the National Consumer Direct organisation on 08454 04 05 06 (which offers free consumer advice).