Covid 19 – Protect yourself from fraud
20 March 2020Criminals use exceptional circumstances like the current covid-19 situation as a chance to pose as employees of a genuine organisation, such as building society / bank staff and police officers and target you for fraud scams.
Criminals pretend to be from your building society, bank or the police and claim they are dealing with coronavirus-related issues that require you to respond by paying money or providing personal information that will allow them to access your account.
They often use pressure tactics to stop you thinking about want they want you do for them.
To be clear, a building society will never:
- Ask you to disclose your PIN number or other passwords for your accounts
- Encourage you to move funds from your own account into a different “safe” account
- Encourage you to order and pay for UK cash via the phone or internet.
- Charge up-front fees for repayment holidays
- Make home visits to collect mortgage arrears on your doorstep
- Demand an immediate payment of mortgage arrears over the phone
- Demand payment of mortgage arrears via email providing you with a link through which to make payments.
Individuals who approach you saying that they are building society employees and who pressurise you in the ways outlined above are criminals.
Stop – Take a moment to think.
Challenge – Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to say “No” and end the conversation.
Protect – Contact the building society or the bank from which you have made a payment immediately if you think that you have been the victim of fraud.