Fareham Borough Council is warning residents to be on their guard against bogus officials offering Council Tax refunds or threatening them with fines.
There have been many incidents reported of this scam across the country including three reported recently in the Fareham borough.
The fraudsters operate by ringing or texting residents purporting to be from the local council, valuation office or some other company which deals with changes to Council Tax banding.
They suggest that the resident is either due a council tax refund, or owes more council tax and must pay it promptly to avoid a fine. They will then ask for personal and bank details to allow them to process the refund or payment.
Local councils never cold call, text or email residents in this way requesting bank details. If refunds are due or there is any change to your bill, you will receive a statement through the post explaining the situation.
If you receive one of these calls, do not give out any personal information and end the call as quickly as possible. The fraudsters can get aggressive and ring back if you put the phone down, but this is all part of the scam to make you act as they want.
If you are in any doubt as to the authenticity of a call concerning your council tax account, you should contact your Local Authority. You can find your local council’s contact details on the DirectGov website.
You can report a suspected incident of the scam to Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.
Please note that Action Fraud is not responsible for the content of external websites.
To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.
See also:
Advance Fee Fraud
Call Centre Fraud
