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"Each month we see many incidents of fraudsters targeting our residents in an attempt to defraud them. We’re working hard to prevent this and support vulnerable victims of fraud or scams. By following our tips and encouraging family, friends and colleagues to do so too, you can reduce the risk of becoming a victim." T/Detective Chief Inspector Rob Walker, Surrey Police & Sussex Police Economic Crime Unit
Advance fee fraud (AFF) is when fraudsters target victims to make advance or upfront payments for goods, services and/or financial gains that do not materialise. Some examples of AFF include lottery and prize draw scams, inheritance scams, fraud recovery fraud, and career opportunity scams.
In one case, a man from West Sussex fell victim to a fake job advertisement.
The victim applied for a security job on a well-known recruitment website and was later emailed about the job stating that to start the role the victim would be required to pay an initial fee for training and a specialist licence. The victim was told he would need to act before the deadline given or he would not be hired. Due to lose his current job, the victim was keen to start this new role so attempted to pay the fee of £650. The victim was also asked for his passport and National Insurance number for identification purposes.
Thankfully, the victim's bank blocked this payment which alerted the victim to the fact it was a scam.
We have received a number of reports of online sellers falling victim to fraud.
One victim, a man from West Surrey, was selling a watch online when he was approached by an interested buyer. The buyer agreed on a price with the victim and asked the victim to request payment via PayPal. The victim then received an email appearing to be from PayPal confirming payment had been received.
The victim noticed the email address used looked suspicious so contacted PayPal before posting out the watch. PayPal confirmed the email received was fraudulent and the buyer had attempted to scam the victim. Thankfully, the watch was never posted out.
Get Safe Online has partnered with Cifas, the UK’s leading fraud prevention service, ScamAdviser and our other partners, to launch Check-a-Website, an easy-to-use online tool which helps determine whether a website is likely to be legitimate or a scam before you visit it. Users simply type in the address of the website they want to check, and their results will appear within seconds.
The tool uses an algorithm to provide a trust score based on more than 40 data sources as well as thousands of reports of malicious websites from law enforcement agencies, regulators, and consumer brands every week.
West Sussex County Council has 24 volunteers (known as Digital Ambassadors) with a wealth of knowledge about digital safety and current online scams, who will be pleased to come into the community to share their knowledge and provide tips and guidance.
The Ambassadors can offer a number of options, such as:
If you would like some free digital safety support from the Ambassadors or if you are interested in becoming a Digital Ambassador and help prevent people becoming victims of online crime, the Ambassadors can be contacted on 0330 222 3185 or by email at [email protected].
If you or someone you know is vulnerable and has been a victim of fraud please report online.
Report fraud or attempted fraud on the Action Fraud website or call 0300 123 2040.