Urgent message from Clover Taylor,  Senior Trading Standards Officer,  Public Protection,  Bath and North East Somerset Council

Caller pretending to be from ‘Bath Council’ information from Trading Standards

I am the Trading Standards Officer. On Tuesday I received two similar complaints from elderly residents which are of particular concern. Today I received a third one.

On Tuesday, one resident received a call from a lady saying she worked for ‘Bath Council’ and the other resident received a call from Susan at ‘Protect Your Home UK’. Both callers said they were contacting residents aged between 50 and 70 to offer home security systems. One resident was offered an ID wrist band for £1, along with a quote for floor sensors which would alert the wristband if there was a flood or fire. The other resident was offered free security equipment, £1 for installation and ongoing maintenance costs to be agreed. Both residents say the caller was extremely convincing.

Today, I received a report from a resident who had a similar call from ‘Safe and Secure’ offering her a security system for £1 followed by a monthly fee. The caller guaranteed that police, ambulance or fire would attend an incident.

The telephone number provided to residents does not work. We believe this is a SCAM!

The advice for anyone affected by a similar telephone call is to report it to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06 or online at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/consumer-service/

Kind regards

Clover Taylor
Senior Trading Standards Officer
Public Protection
Bath and North East Somerset Council
Lewis House
Manvers Street
Bath. BA1 1JG