Highland Council Trading Standards are again warning unsuspecting residents of the emergence of a new Council Tax scam.
Today a call was received by the Council from a Council Tax payer alerting to a Council Tax scam whereby scammers are now texting people and informing them that they are due a Council Tax rebate.
This is not the way that any person due a rebate would be notified. In this case a web address is given, www.city1repay-txx1.com, and the recipient is asked to open it, this website has been identified as unsafe and anyone accessing it may be putting their personal information at risk.
Mark McGinty, Trading Standards Team Leader said: "This is just the latest in a long line of many attempts to scam people either of their money or their personal information, which will eventually lead to an attempt to scam money at some point. I'd urge anyone who has received a text message they are not 100% sure about to simply ignore it and remove it. In this case the web address was only set up yesterday and although identified as a phishing site and blocked by some security systems already, this may not be the case for all, so please take the advice and do not engage with the text. In all cases, if you think you are due Council Tax rebate, contact the Council in the first instance."
Sheila McKandie, Acting Head of Revenues & Customer Services explained: "Any communication with Council Tax payers from the Council's Corporate Resources Service about something like a refund would be in writing. We would never cold call customers. If anyone has a neighbour or relative who may be more susceptible to such activity, it would be helpful if this advice was passed on to them. If you have any doubt as to the authenticity of any contact regarding Council Tax, please call the Council's freephone Council Tax helpline on 0800 393811."
Highland Council Trading Standards work in partnership with Advice Direct Scotland (ADS). Residents who think they may have been scammed can contact ADS who offer free and confidential consumer advice on Freephone 0808 164 6000 or by email through their website address at: www.consumeradvice.scot