Notts: Alert over bogus ‘claims’ calls from county council

Notts County Council’s Trading Standards team is warning people to beware of bogus telephone callers who are purporting to be from the council.

Reports have been made by a number of Notts residents stating that they have been cold called by someone claiming to be from the council asking residents about insurance claims and car accidents.

When the residents challenged the legitimacy of the call the person hung up.

The county council is urging people to end calls immediately, and log any suspect incidents with Action Fraud - the UK’s national UK and cyber crime reporting centre.

Coun Glynn Gilfoyle, chairman of the Community Safety Committee, at Notts County Council said: “This is an issue which affects many councils across the country – not just in Nottinghamshire – but we encourage the public to be vigilant and we are also letting people know we are taking action against this activity.”

“The County Council will never contact you to discuss car accidents or any other claims management type scenario – so we are providing useful advice on what people can do if they suspect a bogus call.”

Here is a guide on what to do:

· If you do receive a call from someone claiming to be from Notts County Council and you are at all unsure about it, ask for their full name and say you’ll contact them back.

· If the caller is bogus they will probably hang up without giving you any details.

· You can then ring the County Council on 0300 500 80 80 to verify the identity of the caller.

If the bogus callers have given you information which may help trace them, please report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 which is logging these calls or visit www.actionfraud.police.uk

Action Fraud are the UK’s national UK and cyber crime reporting centre and will investigate these calls.

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