Pubs warned over fresh telephone scam

Licensees are being warned about a fresh scam involving a conman posing as a regular and trying to trick them out of hundreds of pounds.

Speaking with a Scottish accent and going by the name 'Ian', the fraudster telephones pubs posing as a regular and asks to book a surprise party that evening.

After having talked through the arrangements, the conman then asks for a favour. He says he has been offered two vans at knockdown prices, but doesn't have the cash to buy them. Playing on the fact that he is a supposed regular, 'Ian' asks to borrow £980 from the licensee, saying he will repay it in full that evening.

One licensee targeted was Chris McClung, licensee of the Rose and Crown in Ramsbottom, Lancashire. He mistook the caller for someone he knew so agreed to hand over the money.

"He arranged a taxi to pick up the money from my pub and have it delivered to Preston railway station," said Chris.

"Luckily, before the money reached him another publican called to warn me that he had just been rung by the same conman, so I called the taxi and had it turned around."

In Lancashire alone three other publicans also received the same call that day.

Stuart Morris, who runs the Major Hotel in Ramsbottom, raised the alarm for Chris after receiving the same call minutes earlier.

He said: "I was suspicious because my mum used to run a pub five or six years ago and she was targeted by the exact same con by the same person. He got away with it then.

"In the pub trade there is a high turnover of licensees so if conmen target one area then come back a few years later there will be many new licensees who are unaware of the con."

When The Publican​ tried to contact 'Ian' the call was disconnected.