SCAM ALERTS

Cold callers offering gardening services 
Residents in the Ribble Valley area are being asked to beware of being cold called or responding via a flyer posted through their door offering tree and shrub pruning services.  In one such case an intimidated householder paid nearly £3,000 for an afternoon's work.  
Best advice is to use known local reputable traders, ask family and friends for recommendations.   Please do not be tempted to agree to work on your doorstep. Remember that contracts agreed in your home provide a 14 day right to cancel and you can cancel even if the work has begun within this time, you may in some circumstances just have to pay for the work already done.

Chartered Trading Standards Institute scam letter
Previous victim of investments scams have been contacted by letter purportedly from the CTSI offering to release and return their money for an upfront administration fee of £2000. 
Needless to say this is another scam and the CTSI do not carry out investigations and issue refunds.

Beware Student Scams
As with previous years students are again being targeted by various phishing scams in relation to fake rentals, jobs, tax refunds etc in an effort for their personal information to be obtained and their identity stolen.
Students are asked to be mindful of the information they share including Social Media.

Beware fake Ofgem emails
In another phishing scam, emails are circulating appearing to be from Ofgem asking for people to click a link to claim their government energy rebate this leads to a site that then gathers your personal and financial information.