Telephone scammers pretending to be from Cornwall Council are targeting vulnerable residents and asking for their financial details,

in the latest warning from the Trading Standards team to Helston residents.

As more Covid19-related scams are uncovered across the UK, one Cornwall resident narrowly avoided becoming a victim after she received an unannounced call on 2nd June.

The unexpected call was from a withheld number and the caller introduced themselves by saying they "were from Cornwall Council" or were "working with Cornwall Council".

They claimed that they were phoning to check how the household was coping with the Covid-19 situation and went on to ask financial status questions, general health questions and questions such as "are you retired?"

But when the caller asked for the ages of everyone living at that address, asked if they had a mortgage and asked for the resident's name, the intended victim grew suspicious and ended the call.

Cllr Rob Nolan, Cornwall Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said he was relieved that in this case, the homeowner was wary enough to end the call:

"This incident again illustrates the shocking tactics that will be employed by scammers and fraudsters trying to persuade us to make payments or to hand over our financial information. Taking advantage of the Covid-19 outbreak is simply appalling behaviour," he said.

Scammers will often pretend to be calling from any one of a number of official organisations – Cornwall Council, HMRC, NHS, telecoms and utilities companies, etc, the advice from Trading Standards is as follows:

• NEVER deal with anyone who calls you out of the blue.

• NEVER give your financial details, nor make any payment, to anyone who calls you unexpectedly.

Cornwall Council issued additional advice saying:

"If you have any concern that the call may not be genuine, you should insist they send you an initial letter with their full contact details so you can satisfy yourself that they really are who they say they are."