As the rising cost of living affects all of us more and more, there will be unscrupulous scammers looking to take advantage.

West Devon Borough Council and the Citizens Advice are well aware that scammers will use any excuse to prey on people and sadly, the cost of living crisis and the festive season is creating many more opportunities.

Dishonest offers have been emerging for energy refunds, energy discounts, tax rebates, cost-of-living payments and food vouchers to steal your financial details.

Please be on the lookout as there are a number of different scams circulating at the moment, including:

Cost-of-living Payments

Beware of emails and texts asking you to claim or apply for help with the cost-of-living. The payments from Government are automatic and do not need to be claimed for if you are eligible.

If you think you haven’t received a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Cost of Living Payment or aren’t sure of your eligibility, visit www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment for more information.

Council Tax and Household Support Fund

People pretending to work for your local council might phone you, saying you have overpaid your Council Tax and offer you a refund. You might also receive calls with people telling you you’re eligible for the Household Support Fund and ask for bank details. The Council would never ring you informing you’re eligible, residents can apply for a Household Support Fund payment online. The Council may occasionally contact you after you’ve applied if there’s an issue with the bank details you’ve provided (such as incorrectly entered bank details).

You can confirm that it is the Council calling you through the Council’s Creditors’ hotline number: 01803 861143.

Post Office Redelivery Scam Texts

The latest Post Office text message scam encourages you to take action by telling you that your parcel has been sent back to your local branch. It sends you to a legitimate-looking website under the guise of charging you for redelivery.

This can be very convincing, especially if you’re doing a lot more online shopping in the run-up to the festive season. But remember, the Post Office will never contact you like this.

Loan fee fraud

Loan fee fraud occurs when people pay an upfront or advance fee for a loan they never receive. It’s an increasingly common scam which is reported to the Financial Conduct Authority, with people losing £280 on average.

Always check the provider is authorised by the FCA before you borrow. Visit www.fca.org.uk/consumers/loan-fee-fraud for more information.

Santander Text Scam

Scammers are sending texts impersonating Santander bank, asking people to click on a link to confirm a new payee or suspicious activity on your account. If you receive such a message, proceed with caution. This is a data harvesting scam and could lead to a bigger scam down the road – report any unusual messages directly to Santander by emailing [email protected]

West Devon Borough Council’s lead member for cost of living, Cllr Tony Leech, said: ‘It’s really important that we do everything we can to educate ourselves on what to look out for when it comes to scams. Scammers like to make it as hard as possible to spot them, so taking the time to slow down, check texts and emails before replying is very important, particularly at this time of year. If something doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts and take the time to check if the correspondence is genuine. Contact the company independently; through a different form of communication than the hyperlink or telephone number, you received on the ‘scam’ communication to ask if the correspondence is genuine.

‘Have a conversation with your loved ones to make them aware of the scams circulating, especially your elderly and vulnerable family, friends and neighbours. These are the people most often targeted by fraudsters, especially at Christmas-time. If you need support or advice, please do ask for help from Citizens Advice, they are here to assist you.

‘You can find out more about business, personal and charity scams on the Action Fraud website which has some helpful information on how to protect yourself.”

How to protect yourself against these scams

If you have any doubts about a text, email or call you’ve received claiming to be from an organisation, contact the organisation directly yourself. Do not reply to suspicious messages or open links you’re not sure of.

Only ever use phone numbers or email addresses you will find on an organisation’s official website.

Don’t give out personal information like financial information to people calling on the phone or knocking at the door. Your bank and any other official source would never ask for this information via email or text.

Have you received an email that you’re suspicious of? Forward it to [email protected]

If you think you’ve been targeted by scammers, you can report it to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud office. You can visit them online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or call them on 0300 123 2040.

A spokesperson for Citizens Advice, said: ‘A shocking number of people have been targeted by a scammer this year.  We know scammers prey on our worries and fears; sadly, the cost-of-living crisis is no exception.  Anyone can be targeted by a scam, and as the purse strings are tightened and financial pressures pile on, it’s important we work together to protect ourselves and each other.’

To stop more people from falling victim to these types of scams, Citizens Advice is sharing five top tips to help you guard against a potential scam:

It seems too good to be true – for example, scammers pretending to be energy companies to lure people into “too good to be true” deals 

You suspect you’re not dealing with a real company or a genuine person – take a moment to step back and double-check

You’ve been pressured to transfer money quickly 

You’ve been asked to pay in an unusual way – like by an iTunes vouchers or a transfer service 

You’ve been asked to give away personal information such as passwords, PINs or other verification codes.

If you’ve been scammed, Citizens Advice advises:

Talk to your bank or card company immediately if you’ve handed over any financial and sensitive information or made a payment

Report the scam to Citizens Advice. Offline scams, like those using the telephone, post and coming to your door, can be reported to the Citizens Advice website or by calling 0808 223 1133. Report online scams to the dedicated Scams Action service either online or on 0808 250 5050 

Text scams can be reported to your mobile phone provider by forwarding it to 7726

Also report the scam to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.