Warning issued after reports of cold callers posing as council staff target residents’ homes

A warning has been issued to residents across the county borough following a series of incidents involving cold callers claiming to be from Wrexham Council.

The local authority say that the perpetrators pose as workers from the council in a bid to gain access to people’s homes and persuade them to pay for services they don’t need.

Wrexham Council say its staff will always get in touch with residents in advance before visiting. They also encourage residents to ask for identification and contact the council to verify they are who they say they are if one of its workers visit your property.

Genuine callers won’t be offended and will be happy to either wait until you check, or call back another time.

However rogue traders are a lot more insistent, and will rarely take no for an answer.

What starts out as a seemingly innocent and harmless cold call can often lead to much more aggressive or demanding behaviour from fraudsters, who will often force people to pay money for services they don’t need – usually at wildly exaggerated costs.

To start with, rogue traders will usually seem very polite, friendly and helpful.

But further down the line, they turn to intimidation to then demand large sums of cash. They can even escort people to their bank to take out money, and sadly we often see repeat instances of this kind of victimisation, with criminals targeting vulnerable people as a source of money.

The affect that this type of crime can have on people’s mental health is significant, leading to increased feelings of insecurity, isolation, embarrassment and vulnerability.

If anyone encounters such doorstep sellers at their home, they are within their rights to turn down any such offers of work – no matter how polite the seller may seem.

If the sellers become insistent, suspicious or aggressive, members of the public can contact Wrexham Council’s Trading Standards service on 01978 298997 or North Wales Police on 101, or dial 999 in an emergency.