Pubs targeted in bogus ad scam

Bogus callers are targeting pubs in south Wales to pay for ads in magazines — according to one Chepstow host. Ian Mayrick, licensee at the Coach...

Bogus callers are targeting pubs in south Wales to pay for ads in magazines — according to one Chepstow host.

Ian Mayrick, licensee at the Coach & Horses, said he had been phoned between two and five times per day over the past two weeks by a company purporting to sell ads in a local police magazine.

"I've been in the trade for 20 years and these phone calls are a regular occurrence, cropping up about twice a year. I just want to warn others to be on thier guard."

Mayrick said that the callers asked him to place an ad in the local police force magazine, as a way of supporting them. The price for a quarter page ad was £74, half-page £130 and a full-page ad was £195.

However, when Mayrick asked the caller to specify which local police force was publishing the magazine, he got no answer.