Trade warned as phone call scam makes a comeback
Victims of the hoax pay money into a bank account by credit or debit cards but the magazine is never produced.
John Ellis from the Crown Inn, Oakengates Telford was targeted by a caller with a strong Lancashire accent, purporting to be from ‘the crime prevention programme.’
Urging fellow licensees to be on their guard, Ellis told the PMA: “There’s real scum out there operating scams. They target the on-trade because they think it’s a soft target due to the frequent changes in licensees or managers.
“We fell for it the first time and a lot of new licensees out there might fall for it, so I want them to be warned.”
Callers claiming to be selling adverts in police magazines first surfaced several years ago. One licensee told the PMA at the time he had been targeted up to five times a day.
