Oil thefts and Scam - All areas

Oil Thefts

This is a reminder that with the holiday season approaching and schools closing for you to be mindful of any activity in any neighbouring schools, church buildings and other such properties which will be affected by attendance in the July and August period.

In recent weeks there have been a number of bulk heating oil thefts from such establishments and any suspicious activity, persons or vehicles around such premises should be reported to police.

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Scams

Yesterday and elderly Lady residing in the Lisburn area received a telephone call from a female identifying herself as a "Shelley Rogers" who was involved in settling PPI (payment protection insurance) claims that had been improperly sold.

This person had all the personal details of the Lady concerned and informed her that a male by the name of "Nick Phillips" would be calling that afternoon to present her with a cheque in excess of £2600. The Lady was then told that a further male (no name given) would call and collect from her a UKASH voucher to the value of £377 which she was to purchase from a local store.

It was emphasised that the Voucher was not to be given to the first caller.

The Lady concerned was astute enough to realise that this was a scam but played along stating she had not got £377 and settled on £177. The Lady also checked with the store named who informed her that such vouchers are not issued to senior citizens in any case due to a Crimestoppers alert on such activity.

Please be mindful of any such scam calls and notify police of any details involved. Please be sure elderly and vulnerable family and neighbours are made aware.

UKash is a legitimate form of e-money product; other types would include prepaid debit or credit cards. The main use of the UKash vouchers is to trade or make purchases online without the requirement of having a bank account.

This form of electronic money is increasingly being used by fraudsters when targeting victims in the various forms of ‘Advanced Fee’ scams.

(UKASH for their part have been proactive in improving their counter fraud measures and now operate a 24hr reporting service for people who want to report voucher fraud)