Scam Callers – What are they and why do they do it?
Fraud is an intentional and dishonest act against another person which is used to cheat someone out of something, especially their money, and commonly occurs through scams (email, telephone, online scams, postal and more). Fraudsters or scammers commit these illegal acts for several reasons, this could be for greed, easy financial gain, personal desire for crime and more. Each motive of the criminal act will all depend on the individual criminal.
Unfortunately for our Careline customers, they do fall under the vulnerable category, who within our society are normally targeted and exploited the most.
How can you recognise a scam? (Check if something might be a scam – Citizens Advice)
- What is being asked may seem too good to be true.
- You have been asked to transfer money quickly.
- Someone you don’t know contacts you unexpectedly.
- No written confirmation has been sent to you.
- You have been asked to give away your personal information.
The team here at Careline have heard first-hand how scam callers try and creep their way into our customers life’s, and due to the vulnerability of them, some will allow this to happen as they aren’t aware of the situation in place.
Please take careful note of the bullet points listed below:
- Careline Community Service will never ask for your bank details over the phone.
- Careline Community Service will never ask you to pay for work to be done to your property.
- Careline Community Service will never demand money over the phone or via email.
- Careline Community Service will always address our customers/future customers politely and state who we are and where we are calling from (Careline Community Services which is part of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk).
In general, we recommend that you:
- Stop and think about what is being said to you before you go any further with releasing personal details.
- Trust your instinct. If you have a feeling that the phone call or email you have received isn’t right, do not engage.
- Ensure that all your online personal accounts have strong, protected passwords.
- Use secure websites, they will have a padlock near the web address and will start with ‘https’.
For Norfolk residents, fraud effects thousands of people within the county each year. The Police and Crime Commissioner have worked with Norfolk and Suffolk Victim Care, Norfolk Constabulary and Norfolk County Council Trading Standards to set up a Scams Prevention Service. The service offers free and confidential specialist support to those who have been targeted by scams and helps to increase awareness of scams in Norfolk. Please follow their website below to find further information on this and tips on staying safe to scams.
In the United Kingdom, there are several national services that can support everybody with online scams/fraud. The links for information on these can be found below.
- Scams and fraud | Neighbourhood Watch Network (ourwatch.org.uk)
- Report a scam – Citizens Advice
- National Trading Standards Scams Team – National Trading Standards
- Friends Against Scams – National Trading Standards (NTS) Scams Team initiative protecting and preventing people from becoming victims of scams