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Halton Trading Standards Warns of Bogus PPI Callers

Halton Trading Standards has warned individuals to be wary of strange Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claim callers. A bogus caller, claiming to be from the Ministry of Justice, was phoning people asking for money transfers and residents in the UK have been urged to be vigilant.

The missold PPI scandal has been publicly highlighted in the UK, with thousands of people make applications to claim back their spent premiums with eight per cent compensation in addition. However, this has meant that some unscrupulous parties have tried to get consumers to part with their cash.

Alarms were raised after one resident, having had a loan with Black Horse Finance and believing he was owed £7,000, received a call from a bogus Ministry of Justice employee asking for upfront payments to start the claim process. After making two payments, the victim was asked for a third instalment and he took the matter to police.

Board member for the consumer protection, Councillor Stef Nelson, said “As there has been a lot of media coverage on the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance, it comes as no surprise that fraudsters are attempting to capitalise. They can be very convincing and often quote your name and sometimes will even have some of your credit card details such as the last four digits of your card number.” He added that, if parties offering to claim compensation contact people, all letters, phone calls and texts must be ignored to avoid fraudulent practices.

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