THE Asian community in Croydon has been urged to remain vigilant after a scammer conned an elderly couple into thinking they had won the lottery.
Croydon's trading standards team has learned that Hindi-speaking residents are being targeted by calls from an India-based call centre.
The scam came to light when an elderly Thornton Heath couple received a call from someone claiming to be acting on behalf of a number of well-known UK companies, and saying the recipient has won a lottery sum of £50,000.
They then ask the victim to call an 070 number to release funds from their bank, or to send up to £375, via Western Union, to release the winnings.
The elderly couple in this case used the 1471 caller-identification service to check the callers' number, concerned it may have been a con.
They reported this to the police, who confirmed it was a known scam number.
More than 2,600 fraud reports received by Action Fraud last year featured 070 numbers. Calls from a landline to this prefix can cost up to 65p per minute and may incur an additional call set-up fee of up to 51p. Calls from mobiles can cost up to £1.50 per minute.
In extreme cases, victims have received phone bills running into hundreds of pounds as a result of calling these premium-rate numbers.
If you receive a call from such a number, dial 1471 to note the caller ID and report this to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or online at www.actionfraud.police.uk
