POLICE are warning people in Cookstown to be wary of telephone calls telling them they have won valuable overseas holidays.
The warning follows incidents in which a caller purporting to be from a credit card company telephoned local people.
The PSNI believe this was a scam to obtain credit card details.
Constable Paul Wilson, the crime prevention officer for Cook
stown and Dungannon, explained that when householders pick up the telephone they hear a recorded message telling them they have won a holiday in the Caribbean and asking them to press ‘9’ for further details.
“If they do that, they find themselves speaking to an agent purporting to represent a holiday resort as part of a scheme run by a named credit card company. The ‘agent’ then asks personal questions, and usually ends up asking for a credit card number.
“None of those who have spoken to us have yet given the card numbers and this was sensible. We believe that no matter what pretence the ‘agent’ uses, it is purely to get the number and debit money from the account,” he explained.
“In one instance when a man asked how the ’agent’ had obtained his telephone number, the connection was abruptly broken.
“Our advice is simply hang up when you hear the message and do not waste your time,” he said.
The full article contains 229 words and appears in Mid Ulster Mail Cookstown newspaper.
