Hampshire Police issue warnings over increasing fraudulent scams during the run-up to Christmas
Warnings are being issued by experts about scams in the run-up to the festive period.
Police in Hampshire are advising citizens to be vigilant to cold callers as more people are conned over Christmas.
Cautions come as fraud increased by 14% in the UK throughout 2019, according to Experian.
Hampshire Constabulary issued warnings about an Amazon Prime scam last week, where criminals claiming to work for the company stole individuals’ financial details.
David Humphries from Hampshire Constabulary, said: ‘I would always urge suspicion when faced with cold callers.
‘It pays to ring the company the caller claims to be from to check their details.’
HMRC stated they would never call unexpectedly threatening a lawsuit, arrest, or offering tax refunds.
Scams often increase over Christmas, and Experian found that credit and debit card fraud also rose by 60% during the first half of 2019.
Richard Thomson, local consumer expert from Gosport, said the festive period is traditionally the ‘most lucrative’ for scammers.
He added: ‘More than ever people need to be vigilant, if they’re in the slightest doubt about a transaction, don’t buy.’
