Skip to content

Hertfordshire County Council
-

 

Coronavirus frauds and scams

Find out what scams to look out for and how to avoid them at the National Crime Agency.

For advice on these scams, contact Citizens Advice.

The report a scam, contact Action Fraud.

Crimestoppers COVID fraud hotline: 0800 587 5030

 

 


Report a scam or fraud

 

 

Stay up to date

 

Sign up to Senior Watch

 

 

Scam icon 4

 

 

Follow Trading Standards on Twitter

 

 

Scams and frauds advice


Online advice

How to spot a scam - Take Five to Stop Fraud.

How to keep your home, your property and your money secure - Hertfordshire Constabulary.

Scams targeted at older people - Age UK.

Check a website is safe before you visit - Get Safe Online.

 


Talk to someone

Citizens Advice - get advice on scams and consumer rights by phone, email or online chat.

Think Jessica - contact by phone, email or post for scams advice.

 

 

Scam crimes come in many forms

-

 

  • Emails

  • Facebook and social media

  • Postal

  • Phone calls

  • Text messages

  • In person at your door

 

Scam icon 2

 

Cold callers

Say NO to anyone who turns up at your home uninvited.

Rogue builders and gardeners trick people into paying high prices for unnecessary or shoddy work.

Beware cold callers selling vitamin and herbal remedies. These callers often pretend to have contacted your doctor, and may ask about your health issues. If in doubt talk to your doctor or social worker.

  • If unsure, don't answer the door. A genuine caller will make an appointment with you before turning up. Ask traders for their ID.
  • Don't keep large sums of money at home.
  • Don't buy goods or services at the door, even if a trader tells you work needs to be done urgently.

Call the police on 101 if callers won't leave.

Find a local trusted trader

 

Junk mail

Common scam letters are fake lotteries, prize draws, and clairvoyants. Look out for:

  • Anyone asking for money up front - processing or handling fees are a con.
  • Mailings which tell you that you're a winner, but you need to buy goods from them first. They're usually overpriced and you'll never win the big prize.
  • A promise that you've won a prize for a competition or lottery you never entered.
  • Letters which ask you to call them back to claim a prize. They may be promoting a premium rate number such as 090 or 070.

Register for free with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) to have your name and address removed from mailing lists from UK companies.

Register with the Mailing Preference Service

 

Unexpected phone calls

Always check a caller is who they say they are. Fraudsters can pretend to be from the bank, and ask you to give them your details.

  • Never tell anyone your PIN number or passwords - a real bank or the police will never ask for these.
  • Beware of calling premium rate numbers such as 090 or 070 or international numbers, which start 00.
  • If someone calls and tries to panic you into giving personal or bank details, just ask them to confirm it in writing and put the phone down.

Register for free with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to opt out of unsolicited sales or marketing calls from UK companies. Anyone offering to stop nuisance calls for a fee is a scammer, don't use them.

Register with the Telephone Preference Service

 

 

Become a Friend Against Scams

-


Friends Against Scams
aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering communities to Take a Stand Against Scams.

If you would like to be a Friend Against Scams you can attend a short awareness session in person or complete the online training.

The sessions include advice from Hertfordshire County Council Trading Standards, Age UK and Neighbourhood Watch, so you can learn about current scams and how to spot or report a scam.

Become a Friend Against Scams

 

Rate this page

Cookies

Like many other websites, we place small information files called 'cookies' on your computer.

Why do we use cookies?

To remember your settings, for example your language and location. This means you don’t have to keep entering these details when you visit a new page.

To find out how you use the site to help us update and improve it.

How do I change my cookie settings?

You can change the settings of your web browser so that it won’t accept cookies. For more information visit AboutCookies.org.

But, doing this may stop you from using some of the online features and services on this website. 

Cookies we use

Cookies do a lot of different jobs, and we use 2 types of cookies:

Required functionality cookies – these cookies are essential for the website to work.

Performance and feature cookies – these cookies help to improve the performance and feel of this website, for example providing you with personalised services.


Take a look at a list of cookies we use on our website:

NameTypeHow we use itHow long we use the information for

ASP.Net_Sessions

 

Required functionality

An automatic cookie set by our software. 

Just for the time you are on our website.

ServerID

 

Required functionality

An automatic cookie set by our software. 

Just for the time you are on our website.

_ga

Required functionality

To track the effectiveness of our website using Google Analytics. 

2 years

saved-pages

Performance and feature

To save the pages that you visit by clicking the heart at the top of the page. 

1 month

geoPostcode

Performance and feature

This stores your postcode (or partial postcode) when we ask you for your location.

Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).

geoCoordinates

Performance and feature

This stores your location as a pair of latitude / longitude coordinates.

Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).

reckonerName-history

Performance and feature

This keeps a history of all answers submitted to the ready reckoner.

This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.

reckonerName-content

Performance and feature

This keeps a history of what content cards are clicked on when using the ready reckoner.

This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.

SQ_SYSTEM_SESSION

Required functionality

This used to track user sessions on forms hosted on eservices.hertfordshire.gov.uk

Just for the time you are on our website.


Third party cookies

There are links and content from other sites and services on our website. These sites and services set their own cookies.

Below are a list of cookies that the other sites and services use:

Service namePurposeMore information

Google analytics (_utma/b/c/z)

These are used to compile reports for us on how people use this site.

Cookies of the same names are also used for the same purpose by other websites such as Building FuturesCountryside Management Service and Hertfordshire LIS.

Visit the Google Analytics website for more information about the cookies they use.

You can prevent data from being collected and used by Google Analytics by installing Google's Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Google Translation - googtrans

This cookie is used to remember which language to translate each page into if you have chosen to do so.

It expires at the end of your browser session.

Bing

We use a Bing cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.

Visit Bing to find out more about their cookies.

Google

We use a Google cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.

Visit Google to find out more about their cookies.

Facebook

We have a number of presences on Facebook, which we may link to. Facebook may set some of its own cookies if you follow these links.

Visit Facebook to find out more about their cookies.

Twitter

We have a number of presences and feeds on Twitter, which you may wish to follow or read from this website. Twitter may set some of its own cookies.

Visit Twitter to find out more about their cookies.

YouTube

We have a YouTube channel, which we may link to. YouTube may set some of its own cookies if you follow those links.

Visit YouTube to find out more about their cookies.

Netloan

This ASP.NET_Sessionid cookie is essential for the Netloan secure online payments website to work, and is set when you arrive to the site. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser.

 

HotJar

This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels.

Visit HotJar to find out more about their cookies.

Siteimprove

These cookies are set to help us report on how people are using the site so we can improve it.

Visit Siteimprove to learn more about their cookies.