Scam regarding Household Support Fund….Administered by Cambs CC, I am part of this group (not Age UK) but have the same access to funding, so if someone is concerned about dealing with Age UK – they are more than welcome to contact me, which a number have already done so.
One of CAPASP’s partners, Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, has been in touch to warn about an attempted scam relating to the Household Support Fund (HSF) which is in place to support older people this autumn.
Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are working in partnership with the County Council to administer this fund.
One of its service users was phoned by a man who didn’t give his name but said he was from Age UK. The call was from a withheld number. He told her that she could have £200 that same day if she gave her bank card details immediately. Fortunately, the service user didn’t give her card details and asked the caller to phone her son.
Unsurprisingly the son never received a call.
Please know that:
The Household Support Fund will not be paid on the same day.
Age UK Cambs & P’boro staff will not ask for the long bank card details or the security number on the card.
Their staff will always give their full name and contact details, and the advice is to contact the organisation using a number that is trusted to verify who the caller is.
They are happy to talk to family members or carers.
While they do ask for bank account details to make the payment, it will ONLY be the account number, sort code and name which appears on the account. This information allows a deposit to be made into the account but cannot give access to make a withdrawal of money from the account.
If you have experienced a phone scam, contact your bank as soon as possible and contact Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online Action Fraud
