PSNI in new fraud warning after “increase” in phone and internet scam reports

The scams, say the PSNI, involve frausters threatening to “turn off your internet” or “having you arrested by police for non-payment of income tax”.

This follows news that there was a huge rise in the number of fraud and forgery cases submitted to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) last year.

An independent report by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency found that there was a rise in the number of fraud and forgery cases submittd to the Public Prosecution Service between last year and the previous year.

There was a total of 42,324 files sent to the PPS in the 2018/19 financial year, a rise of 2.1% on the 42,395 files submitted the previous year.

The number of fraud and forgery cases rose by 9.2%.

PSNI Antrim posted the latest warning on its Facebook page, under the heading ‘Newtownabbey Scam Alert’.

A police spokesperson said: “Folks residents of the District are reporting an increase in the level of both telephone and internet scams over the last few days .

“These criminals are targeting you from overseas and it only takes them to get lucky on one or two occasions to have them continue their activities .

“There are so many types of scam from threats to turn off your internet to having you arrested by Police for non-payment of income tax to HMRC.

The spokesperson continued: “We posted a warning to the Next Door App which is a new platform we are now using to engage with the public , many users on the App exchanged their experiences with other users.

“This has been a very informative exercise in highlighting the types of scams which are currently being used.”

The spokesperson added: “Often the more elderly in our community are more trusting than the younger generation so ‘have the conversation’ with relatives and friends.”