A SCAM telephone alert has been issued by Studley Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Jim Bacon after he was contacted by a local resident.
The resident said the series of calls were a scam and described them as ‘very harassing’.
The woman said: “The first call was supposedly from BT about our telephone and internet.
“I hung up on this call and with phone in hand, as I was about to call BT to add the number to my black list, the phone rang again with a different number coming up on the caller ID.
“Foolishly I automatically answered this call to be asked, by name, why I had hung up on the call.
“I hung up, and it immediately rang again, I hung up, without answering and once again it rang.
“This time I answered, without speaking and listened to the caller tell me that it was a genuine call from BT and that I needed to check my emails and text messages as I had been sent an important message that I need to respond to.”
All the calls had the same first eight digits but the last three numbers changed each time.
The resident added: “Following on from these calls I have received an email which appeared to be from BT, and my husband has received two text messages offering the same information.
“I have contacted BT to report these incidents, the email was not from BT – neither were the calls.”
She added: “We have had many spam calls and text messages in the past and we know how to deal with them, but I think this is probably the most aggressive I have received.”
To make matters worse, Jim said a scam caller’s telephone number shown on a receiver can be a spoof number and not the number they are calling from.
Scammers can electronically put a genuine number, ie BT, Gas, or any recognisable number on your telephone.
To report scammers, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
