Warning over phone scam

From the archive, first published Thursday 7th Dec 2006.

THE police are warning Craven residents to be on their guard against the latest telephone scam.

They claim a man with an Asian accent purporting to be from British Telecom is phoning householders and stating they have not paid £14.31 on their phone bill and will be cut off unless they pay immediately by credit card.

PC Tony Ingram from Settle Police said: "The offender will then use their credit card details to purchase goods, basically stealing their identity.

"BT states that if there is a problem with payments they will issue reminders and will not phone the householder direct. To my knowledge there have been four such reported scams in Craven."

He is urging householders to contact the police if they believe they have been a victim of such a crime, and also to report any failed attempts to obtain credit card details.