NEW RUSE INVOLVING COUNCIL TAX REFUNDS IS LATEST ATTEMPT TO TRICK HOUSEHOLDERS, BOROUGH COUNCIL WARNS

SURVEY REVEALS MORE THAN A FIFTH OF PEOPLE HAVE RECEIVED 'CORONAVIRUS' COMMUNICATIONS THEY SUSPECT ARE BOGUS

HOUSEHOLDERS in Atherstone and district are being warned not to fall for a new scam which claims they are paying too much council tax.

North Warwickshire Borough Council has put the town and district on 'high alert' to the ruse.

The Atherstone-based authority has warned to be on the lookout for a council tax refund email circulating in the area.

The email includes a false link to HM Revenue and Customs to complete a form.

The fraudsters are also sending text messages or phoning, claiming to be from HMRC with news of the "tax rebate" or possible penalty.

A spokeswoman for NWBC advised: "Please delete the email if you receive one."

The latest scam follows one with a similar theme back in March which claimed Atherstone and district to freeze council tax payments for two months

An email was found to be circulating in the area naming North Warwickshire Borough Council as making the offer for April and May.

At the time the council denounced the email as "incorrect" as no decision had been taken and urged recipients not to reply "with any bank or personal details".

It was clearly cleverly targeted as the scam came just a week after the local authority's opposition leader Adam Farrell had called for a two-month free period at the start of the new financial year for council tenants and tax payers to "help ease the burden on communities" in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Authorities have been at pains to consistently warn the public about scammers taking full advantage of scared and vulnerable people amid the fear and confusion of the current coronavirus pandemic.

More than a fifth of people have received communications mentioning coronavirus that they suspect are financial scams, a survey reveals today.

And the top five professions likely to fall prey to such a scam during the pandemic are accountants, IT workers, customer service workers, admin staff and teachers., according to a poll of 2,000 people by Aviva.

Some 22 per cent of people have had emails, texts, phone calls or other contact mentioning Covid-19 which they believe to be fraudulent.

If the findings were projected across the country, this would equate to around 11.7 million people in the UK who think they have been targeted by Covid-19 related scams, according to the insurer.

Suspect communications have related to products including health, life and car insurance, investments, pensions and annuities.

For further information on dealing with scams, click here for more details.