This International Fraud Awareness Week (15-21 November), Fareham Borough Council is urging residents to be on the lookout for scams and frauds circulating in the Fareham area.

A dedicated scams webpage has been set up by the Council to highlight active scams and encourage residents to report any concerns about potential fraud: www.fareham.gov.uk/scams.

Details of new scams that the Council becomes aware of will be posted onto the webpage as well as circulated via its social media channels.

While the Council has a dedicated Counter Fraud team working to detect, prevent and raise awareness of fraud in the borough, it also relies on residents to report suspected fraud, corruption, or other irregular activity. Residents can do this by phoning 01329 824667 or emailing reportfraud@fareham.gov.uk.

Fraud can take many forms, including banking and payment scams, online shopping fraud, and attempts to deceive residents by impersonating trusted organisations, brands or individuals, whether online, over the phone or in person. The most common frauds currently impacting the Council are:

• Impersonation
• Housing
• Council Tax Support (particularly undeclared partners) and Benefits
• Council Tax (particularly single residency discount)

Councillor Joanne Burton, Executive Member for Health and Public Protection said: “We are constantly on the lookout for scams and frauds in our community and investigate around 10,000 suspected cases every year. I would encourage residents to check our scams webpage periodically to stay up to date on the latest scams in circulation and help keep yourselves and others protected. We would also appreciate you letting us know if you have been a victim of a scam or suspect a potential fraud in the area, so that we can ensure that Council resources are not misused.”

If residents think they have personally been a victim of fraud, then this should be reported to Action Fraud: www.reportfraud.police.uk.