TRADING STANDARDS officers in Pembrokeshire are offering advice to local residents on how to avoid being taken in by online scams.

Officers will be on hand at at Pembroke Dock Library tomorrow (Jul 13) and Haverfordwest Library next Tuesday (Jul 19) between 10am and 1pm.

They say the internet can unfortunately give easy access to criminals to carry out scams.

Nigel Watts, Trading Standards Manager, cited a recent example. “A consumer from Cardiff purchased a burglar alarm online for £80. The website claimed it was a UK based business and provided a Pembrokeshire address,” he said.

“A few weeks after being installed, the alarm stopped working and there were safety issues as the batteries supplied with the alarm began leaking acid and coming apart.

“The consumer contacted the seller but they took no action and did not refund the consumer.

“Despite the address provided online claiming to be in Pembrokeshire, the business was actually in China. The site has since been closed down.”

Common online scams include phishing, spams and pop-ups.

Phising is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from a legitimate source such as Paypal, a bank or HMRC to induce individuals to reveal personal information. The email may require you to confirm your personal details. It may provide a link for you to click on that may take you to a convincing fake website. Once you enter your details, the scammer will have access to your bank or Paypal account. Legitimate banks will not ask you to click on a link.

Spams are emails from an unknown source, promising monetary gain. Never reply to spam emails, even to stop them as it tells the scammer the address is active. Never call a number or trust any contact details in a spam email.

You may receive “pop-ups” and offers of “free trials”. Be wary as they are often associated with expensive charges. You may find yourself tied in to a contract, longer and more expensive than you were led to believe.

Top Tips

• Be wary of emails from unknown sources. Delete any suspicious emails.
• Ensure you have up-to-date antivirus software.
• Set up a junk mail filter to stop unwanted emails.
• Don’t follow links to get to an official website unless you trust the sender.
• Make sure your payments online are secure, look for the padlock symbol in the address bar.
• If you do not wish to enter your phone number on a website, consider using a scheme called Truecall 38 which enables you to avoid giving your phone number online.
• Be wary of copycat websites, which charge for services that are actually free.

The advice is being offered as part of the National Scams Awareness Month.