Sussex resident warns about telephone scam

The person says: “I have had two phone calls, one yesterday and one today, Saturday 1st October, from someone purporting to be from BT and informing me I had a problem with my Internet connection and with viruses on my computer.

“They informed me that I could avoid an internet disconnection within an hour for a period of two weeks by following their instructions to fix the faults whilst in front of my computer screen.

“I became suspicious and they eventually hung up. I contacted BT who confirmed it was indeed a scam...”

The police say that “they use well-rehearsed stories, designed to gain their victim’s trust, for example pretending to be police officers who have just arrested someone using a copy of your bank card and alerting you that your money is in danger, or pretending to be from your phone or computer service provider and claiming that there is a problem with your system that they need to fix.

“Fraudsters often claim to be officials and can seem very genuine, but you should always bear in mind that callers may not be who they claim to be, even if they already seem to know details such as your name and address.

“Genuine police or bank staff would never ask you to withdraw or transfer cash from your account, nor would they ever ask for your four digit bank PIN number. Never tell anyone this number, it is for you to use in cash machines and shops only.