Elderly Sidmouth woman targeted in scam phone call

By Will Goddard

4th Nov 2021 | Local News

An elderly lady, who lives in Sidmouth, was targeted last week (Pixabay)
An elderly lady, who lives in Sidmouth, was targeted last week (Pixabay)

East Devon District Council have warned residents of a scam phone call after a Sidmouth woman was contacted about a fake increase in council tax.

An elderly lady, who lives in Sidmouth, was targeted last week when she received a call from a man calling himself David Morris and pretending to be from East Devon District Council's legal team.

He said that, because the value of her property had gone up, she was in the wrong council tax band so was being charged incorrectly.

He told her she owed £98 and when she said she could not make the payment there and then, he said he would call back tomorrow to take the payment.

Fortunately, the woman called the council straight away and was advised that this was a scam.

EDDC's 'legal team' would never contact a resident regarding council tax.

Officers would also never contact a resident by phone, out of the blue, about a re-banding – a resident would be well aware of any re-banding and it would only happen in specific circumstances.

If a resident ever thinks that a call might be a scam, end the phone call and call EDDC directly on its secure line – 01395 517446.

     

New sidmouth Jobs Section Launched!!
Vacancies updated hourly!!
Click here: sidmouth jobs

Share:

Sign-Up for our FREE Newsletter

We want to provide sidmouth with more and more clickbait-free local news.
To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following.
Help us survive and sign up to our FREE weekly newsletter.

Already subscribed? Thank you. Just press X or click here.
We won't pass your details on to anyone else.
By clicking the Subscribe button you agree to our Privacy Policy.