An Islander reporting she's been offered a coronavirus vaccine over the phone - that would cost nearly £300 - is among recent scam warnings on the Isle of Wight.
Trading Standards has issued a round-up of ones that have been affecting Islanders recently.
COVID vaccine costs
- An Islander had a phone call about the COVID vaccine and was told that it would cost her £299 - BUT the vaccine is free and you will be contacted by the NHS.
- You can trust your text message is genuine if it comes from ‘NHSvaccine’, includes a link to the NHS.uk website and gives you the option of phoning 119.
- If you are still unsure this will be followed up by a letter – if the text is genuine the letter should be delivered a few days later.
Online prizes
- Reports of adverts, emails and Facebook postings telling you that you have won a fantastic prize.
- These quite often purport to be one of the main supermarkets but can take many forms and will ask you for information - generally phishing exercises.
- Remember if something sounds too good to be true it probably is - don’t respond and don’t share just delete!
"Pop up" adverts
- Please be wary of “pop up” adverts that appear on your device. These may be adverts for miracle face creams or slimming tablets that will offer a free trial and all you will pay is postage.
- To pay the postage you have to use your debit card and what they wont tell you is that you will then be debited monthly and sent additional products for a contract that you don’t know you have entered into. Again if it sounds too good to be true……
Home insulation calls
- There is an increasing number of reports around home insulation phone calls, the caller will tell you they will visit and check out your home insulation in the roof and then offer you a one time only deal for providing insulation.
- Similarly calls about asbestos in your property, they will arrange to call and check your property for asbestos and will almost certainly “find” some, they will then overcharge you for the removal and disposal of the non-existent asbestos - do not engage with anyone who calls you out of the blue and remember any work that these companies are likely to do will be overpriced and of poor quality.
Local business scams
- Reports of email scams that may catch out local businesses.
- One purports to be from the HSE and says they will be carrying out an inspection on your premises. There is an attachment that you are asked to open and may contain viruses that could infect your computer. Check the sender's email address – this won't be a valid HSE email address.
- The other claims to be from Xero (accounting for small businesses) and is an invoice due for payment. This could be seen as legitimate by a busy trader so please be cautious with any correspondence you receive like this.
To help keep yourself and those you care about free from scams watch a video aimed at raising awareness around scams here.
Report it by emailing trading.standards@iow.gov.uk
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