Scam? Police magazine

[venus89]

I just had a phone call from a man (with a Liverpool accent :rolleyes: ) claiming to be from the local police force. He says he is putting together a magazine, as they do every year, and one local business has been chosen to advertise in it (ie me.....) and it was a wonderful opportunity.

Of course I said 'no' and assume it's a scam. So if a Liverpool policeman phones up I'd suggest you do the same!

[suzyblue]

Ive had that call as well. Its about £150.00 to advertise! I said no thanks!

[venus89]

Ive had that call as well. Its about £150.00 to advertise! I said no thanks!

Thought so! I just said if it involves any money at all then no way..... :D

[Twinklestars]

i had a similar phone call but it was about £300 so i hung up!!

[Roseolivia]

When i first started minding i had the same call, it was very expensive to advertise so said no thanks. Months later got another phone call saying that the magazine was now ready with my advert in it and they would invoice me. At first didn't have a clue what he was on about then it clicked it was from the first phone call. I hate being ripped off and lost my temper, told them i wasn't paying anything as i declined their offer of advertisment and they had no right to ring me saying i owed them money. Told them to take my name off their database and never ring again. Guess what..... never had a phone call since.
Be very wary.

[christine e]

I support a childminder who has had one of these calls - I told her I thought it was some sort of scam and to ignore it - I do know that they have called more than once

Christine

[AliceK]

I've had 2. One just before I was fully registered. I explained to him that I was not yet registered so couldn't advertise as Ofsted registered and he said Oh that's OK your certificate will be with you soon all the checks have been done,made out they themselves had done checks. I spoke to OFsted who knew nothing about this so I declined his offer. Then they called me the other week saying thanks for the last advert :eek: and do I want a bigger and better one this time for a special reduced rate of £295 :laughing:

xxxxxxxx

[sarah707]

Thank you for letting everyone know about it! :D

[WibbleWobble]

i have had this call too...i get alot of calls from people wanting to make me a website or sort out my payroll problems:eek: .

It seems to be as soon as you put yourself the t'interweb or yellow pages online...etc ..


mandy xxx

[crazyhazy]

Interesting to hear you all think it's a scam, I've had 3 of these calls, one police, one fire service and the last one was a childrens cancer charity. I said I wasn't interested but that was really cos of the expense, didn;t cross my mind that it was a scam :blush:

[Velleity]

Got this call today.

[buzzy bee]

I've had a charity do this... I didn't think it was a scam, but it was very expensive (I think £150) and when I said my advertising budget wouldn't stretch that far he was SO patronising and said, "Oh dear, is business that bad?" :rolleyes:

[tulip0803]

I had this too on my mobile - I told him no thanks, he tried to argue and I put the phone down and blocked his number. I think someone on here had a real problem with this a few years ago, if I remember right.

Thanks for warning everyone!

[Becci26]

THIS IS A SCAM

As all are suspecting! My mum got stung by this when she set up her little sweet shop a couple of years ago! They say they will do a magaxine and goes to all local residents, they make one up and post it to you but don't distribute to anyone then charge you a fortune for something or other (I can't remember the ins and outs of it but you get the gist)

[Flisspaps]

It is indeed a scam (not sure why there was the :rolleyes: after saying he had a Liverpudlian accent though!)

These people also claim to be "The Fire Service", we had several dealings with them in my previous employment which included passing them around everyone in the office to keep them busy for a while :D meaning they had less time to phone other less suspicious establishments. The person ringing us had a Midlands accent so it's certainly not just one accent you need to be listening for.

They have no return phone number, and no address visible on their website - no doubt they claim to be a myriad of other services as well in order to extort your money.

It's probably worth contacting your local paper, this company will do the rounds ringing all educational establishments in a particular area so getting a story in the paper will give them a heads-up, as well as providing you with some free publicity ;)

[Mouse]

It is a scam. They phone up pretending to be from the police or a charity, tell you you will be the only one of your type of business allowed to advertise etc etc. Of course, if you part with any money, you'll never hear from them again...and they'll have your bank details.

Or, they phone up saying that someone in your firm has agreed to the advertising and you have to pay the bill over the phone now as it's outstanding. Of course, this doesn't work when you are the only person in your business and know you haven't agreed to it.

When you question them, they get verbally abuse, usually swearing at you!

[Lorraine B]

I had a problem with this year ago and after months of them harassing me and me getting very upset by it all I told them I would get the police on them if they carried on :angry:

They left me alone then :)

Lorraine x

[clio0602]

I got this last yr and it was an Australian man who phoned me back wanting payment when I'd already said no. They then called about 6mths later thanking me for placing the ad and supporting the local youth community and would I consider another ad and they wouldn't contact me again til nxt yr :rolleyes:

[charleyfarley]

Thanks for the warning :thumbsup:

Obviously I'm not worth advertising as they haven't phoned me :D

Carol xxx

[Natternic]

cant believe ive stumbled across this, its still going on, ive only been registered since sep, and had 3 calls from them and others claiming then they get really rude and abusive or just slam the phone down. I wonder if the police actually know they are claiming to be them.

[Eddisonsmum]

Yep, they tried me too when i first started