Business Calendar Ad Scam Warning

Another day another scam warning, this time an old one doing the rounds again targeting local companies in Wrexham.

The scam involves fake invoices and calendar creation, often claiming to be on behalf of local emergency services or charities.

Trevor from Dickens Group in Rhostyllen told us: “We have had two calls this week so far – quite fun to stop them halfway through their spiel and tell them about the con!”

“How it works is you get a call ‘on behalf of the police’ – a friendly voice then says ‘you’re not in trouble, nothing to worry about’ with a little laugh to be extra chummy – they then go on to thank you and your staff for “supporting us in the Crime Awareness diary/wall planner/magazine last year and can we count on you to support us again this year?”

“Total rubbish, it’s just a con to get you to say yes, or any variation of yes, which they then follow up with an invoice for £300 for an ad that never appears anywhere.

“They rely on the fact that £300 isn’t a huge amount, and it sounds like a good cause, and that businesses without very strong systems and procedures would let it be paid without checking because it sounds like something that any business would support.”

Wrexham.com is directly aware of similar scams that tried to persuade local businesses to buy advertising space on wall planners, diaries and leaflets.

Previously scammers have claimed not only false advertising but ‘proceeds to charity’, with the donation being as little as 5%.