North Yorkshire Police warn businesses to be aware of credit card telephone scam

Police say they have received reports of this scam twice in the last couple of months, however, both have thankfully been saved by local taxi firms contacting them.

The scammer, often a woman with a southern accent, calls a business and claims she has been let down by a local supplier and needs to buy large quantities of products which will be sent to her premises by taxi.

The goods will be paid for using a number of credit cards, some of which may not work, and then a taxi arrives to collect the products.

Unfortunately, the goods have been paid for with stolen credit card details and once the card owners realise what has happened, the money will be claimed back from the business – leaving them out of pocket and with thousands of pounds of stock gone.

Earlier this week a taxi firm contacted police after they had been asked to ship £4,000 worth of beauty products to an address in Essex.

Police intervened and returned the products to the business who had sold them in good faith.

In October, a similar incident occurred where a local taxi company had been asked to ship £3,000 worth of golf equipment.

Again police intervened and were able to make sure the products were returned to the business, never making it to the scammers.

These thieves have tried this tactic on a number of companies, from butchers to beauty salons and police are urging all North Yorkshire businesses to be vigilant.

Kevin Ross is from the Economic Crime Unit, said: "“If you receive a call of this nature, please ask yourself why anybody would pay for a taxi to transport goods to Essex when they could easily buy the items they want locally if they were a legitimate customer.

“Know your customer and check everything you are told. Speak to the credit card provider. If in doubt, don’t make the sale.

"Dozens of businesses in North Yorkshire and elsewhere wish they hadn’t.”

If you have fallen victim to this scam call 101 to report it.