Bogus County Council Cold Call Warning
This is a message sent via Neighbourhood Alert. This information has been sent on behalf of Trading Standards
Message sent by David Brocklebank (Nottinghamshire County Council, Trading Standards Officer, Nottinghamshire)
Nottinghamshire residents are being warned about a bogus cold caller claiming to be from the County Council who asks unrelated questions about mortgages, health insurance and other financial products.
The Council’s Trading Standards has received a complaint from a south Nottinghamshire resident who was contacted by a man who said he was undertaking a short telephone survey on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council.
There was background call centre noise and the resident became suspicious when he started to ask about whether she had a Sky aerial.
The Council is warning residents that calls of this nature are not in any way related to its organisation.
Sarah Houlton, Trading Standards and Community Safety Team Manager from the Council offers the following advice: It’s known practice for unscrupulous companies to claim they are from a well-known and respected organisation when they cold call to gain trust and encourage people to respond to their surveys.
However, the County Council would not be ringing about financial products or Sky dishes so be wary of such cold callers claiming to be working on our behalf.
If you suspect they are lying just politely decline to carry out the telephone survey – if you feel they are not being honest about where they are from they are not to be trusted.
Residents with consumer complaints should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06.