A local resident has received several unsolicited phone calls in the past few weeks from someone who has been trying to obtain his credit card details under the guise of facilitating a refund of supposedly overpaid Council Tax.
Having spoken to Wiltshire Council, Derrick Petty now knows this was a scam and has asked the website to publicise this matter so that other people are not taken in by a similar confidence trick. Fortunately, despite receiving 3 separate phone calls from the fraudsters, no credit card details were disclosed on this occasion.
The Action Fraud website has this advice:
Council tax rebate scams
Fraudsters phone victims telling them that they are calling to let them know that they have been placed in the wrong council tax bracket and that they are entitled to a rebate.
How to protect yourself:
Never respond to unsolicited phone calls
Your local council won’t ever phone out-of-the-blue to discuss a council tax rebate, if you receive a call of this nature, put the phone down straight away.
No legitimate organisation will ask you to pay an advanced fee in order receive money; so never give them your card details.
If you think you have been a victim of fraud, hang up the phone and wait five minutes to clear the line as fraudsters sometimes keep the line open. Then call your bank or card issuer to report the fraud. Where it is possible use a different phone line to make the phone call.