New telephone scam
From RBK Trading Standards via Kingston Centre for Independent Living
Very Important!
Advice to residents about telephone scam
Kingston Council is advising residents about a telephone scam that is currently being attempted in the Royal Borough of Kingston.
The Council was contacted by approximately twenty residents recently who have been contacted by telephone by someone claiming to be ringing from ‘The Council Tax department’.
The caller is telling residents that they are entitled to a rebate on their Council Tax or that their Council tax band has been changed to a lower rate.
The caller says that all the resident has to do is provide details of the residents’ bank account and the caller will transfer the ‘rebate’ to their account. Some residents have also been asked to send a sum of money to a given account to cover the cost of ‘administration’ or to make a donation to ‘charity’.
In all instances the advice from Kingston Council is DO NOT provide details of your bank account or date of birth over the telephone.
Residents who receive such an approach are advised to ask for the name and telephone number of the caller and finish the call. Any genuine caller from Kingston Council will be happy to provide their name and a number where residents can return the call to verify the details.
Commenting, Aiden Walsh, Assistant Manager of the Counter Fraud and Corruption Unit at Kingston Council, said:
“The chances are that anyone receiving a call along these lines are that it is a scam.
Kingston Council has received a steady flow of calls today which indicates that the scammers are currently targeting residents in this area. The police are aware of the increase in activity today.
Residents who are in any doubt are advised to ask for the name and contact details of the caller and finish the call. If in doubt, contact your local Council Tax office and they can check whether there are any changes to your entitlement.”
To contact Kingston Council Tax visit – www.kingston.gov.uk/council_tax
Note that all the Council tax numbers are 8547 xxxx ones.
Surbiton Forum 
Thanks Paul for this info. Another scam to tell people is that someone pretends to ring from the Telephone Preference service which stops unwanted calls. I know this service is free but the caller pretends to be from your telephone service Provider and says for a registration fee (and your bank account details no doubt) they can stop international unwanted calls. I told them they were fraudsters because the service is free. I phoned the Telephone Prefererence service and they are aware of the scam. They also said BT was aware. However isn’t it about time theses scams were published in local newspapers and in the main press so that once and for all people DO NOT GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFO to these fraudsters.