Staffordshire Police are warning people of a phone scam where offenders contact victims claiming to be their internet provider and claim the service has been hacked.
Whilst on the phone they claim to be fixing the problem and state they are giving you a refund as their service has been so slow recently. They state too much money has been put into your bank account and ask if you can pay the difference back through your bank.
THIS IS A SCAM – DO NOT engage with the caller and hang up.
The scammers will be very plausible and sound genuine. The story they give changes as people become aware of new scams so please think before giving information to anyone – If you are not expecting a refund from a company, it is probably not genuine.
Two reports of this scam were received by Staffordshire Police on Monday 7 November.
A phone call was received by a woman at 10:30am in Stafford from a woman claiming to be from TalkTalk stating that her computer had been hacked.
After saying they had fixed the problem, the caller said they were refunding £200 to her account but had put £2,200 in by mistake. The caller asked the woman to pay back £1,900 of this, saying she could keep the rest.
The victim went to her bank and paid the £1900 by a moneygram. No money had been paid into her account. (Incident number 503 of 7 November)
In the second incident a man in Cannock who received a call at 10:43am on Monday morning from someone claiming to be from his internet provider, telling him he had been hacked.
After the caller claimed to have fixed the hacking problem, he was instructed to go into his internet banking in order to receive a refund. His computer was then remotely accessed by the scammers and it appeared that they had mistakenly refunded him £3,200. The female caller said she would lose her job over this and asked him to go to his bank and withdraw £2,900. She would send someone to his house to collect it.
The man was suspicious and told the caller he thought it was a scam and hung up. He contacted his bank and told them what had happened and they put a block on his account to stop any money being taken.
When instructed by the police to turn the computer off, to cut the control to the scammers, it was discovered that a lock had been placed onto the computer therefore the owner can no longer use it. (Incident number 208 of 7 November)
Anyone with information on the above incidents is asked to call Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting the relevant incident number.
To report a fraud and receive a police crime reference number, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via their online fraud reporting tool.
