Advice Services Coventry

Protect your personal information

Never give out bank details to people you don't know or people you meet online.

A scam is usually uninvited (unsolicited). This means it will come from a company or
person you've never heard of by:

• post - through a letter or promotional leaflet

• email - through a personal or promotional message ('spam emails')

• phone ('cold calling')

• text message

A scam will:

• give extravagant promises - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

• ask you to pay for something upfront, eg you have to pay a fee to claim a prize

• put pressure on you to make a quick decision, eg an investment opportunity will end unless you
  pay straight away

• ask for bank account details so they can steal your money

Never give out bank details to people you don't know or people you meet online.

Other signs of a scam are the person or company only:

• gives a mobile phone number as a contact

• uses a PO box number or mail box as an address - mail boxes look like a real address but the
  business isn't based there

PO boxes and mobile numbers are easy to turn off and hard to trace.

Use an online search engine to check a business's address - a mail box will have many
companies based at the same address.