You are warned to be on their guard against fraudsters claiming to be able to recover cash spent on payment protection insurance. Over the past 12 months, about one report per month has been made to Lancashire police by people who have been contacted by cold callers claiming to be from a PPI company.
The caller will tell them that they have several thousands of pounds waiting for them and advise them to obtain a ‘Ukash’ voucher for a set amount, usually between £100 and £900 claiming that they need the voucher in order to release the funds. The victims will obtain the voucher, send it off but then never hear back from the company.
Detective Constable Tony McClements said: “The whole issue of PPI recovery is extremely topical at this time; a situation compounded by a recession where people are struggling to make ends meet.
“Near cast-iron guarantees are given by the fraudsters that they will recover your PPI payments subject to an advance fee payable by you but no reputable company would ever ask you for advance payment.
“Although Ukash itself is a legitimate and reputable company, the callers claiming to be from this PPI company are often not and they are just using a legitimate company’s name to try and give themselves credibility. The best way to tackle this is never do business with a cold caller unless you have checked them out thoroughly. One way of checking this is by typing the company name or telephone number into internet search engines and you will often find other consumers highlighting potential fraudsters.
“I would also ask that friends and relatives of those who may be vulnerable are alert to the problems so that they can warn their loved ones to this developing issue.”
David Hunter, CEO of Ukash, said “We are appalled that scammers are targeting people to defraud their money and we are actively working with the authorities to close them down. Our advice to customers is that Ukash codes should NEVER be given to cold callers or doorstep salespeople. Treat Ukash with the same sort of care you would treat physical cash – Ukash codes should only be used online on the websites that are listed on www.ukash.com.”
Anyone who believes they have been targeted by on-line fraudsters should report it to www.actionfraud.police.uk in the first instance. If they realise that they have been scammed they can also contact Ukash directly via their customer services and an attempt can be made to block the voucher code before it is used.
