Doorstep Scammers Posing as Council Reps to Sell UK Broadband
Residents in the West Midland’s city of Wolverhampton have been warned by the local city council to be on the lookout for doorstep scammers, some of which have recently been posing as council employees in an attempt to entice people to switch their ISP for free broadband.
The development comes only a day after we reported on the problem that TalkTalk’s door-to-door sales (cold calling) activity had caused in Newcastle (here), although in today’s news we’re dealing with a much more overtly fraudulent activity around a different city.
Sadly, the Wolverhampton City Council has not provided much detail (i.e. no mention of any specific ISPs), and thus we don’t know if these were merely dodgy sellers or scammers trying to steal personal financial details etc. In any case, the best response is always to politely decline any door-to-door sales activity.
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Councillor Craig Collingswood said:
“Residents should note that we do not provide any service of this kind.
Unfortunately, not everyone is trustworthy and some people will take advantage of others if they feel there is money to be made. Scams come in many different guises; before agreeing to an offer, give yourself time to think about it and have a chat with family, neighbours or friends.
Most of all, if something doesn’t seem right, then follow your instincts and remember that you can politely say ‘No, thank you’, and shut the door.”
If you have encountered these doorstop sellers or have any further questions, please contact Wolverhampton Trading Standards through their partners at Citizens Advice Consumer Service by calling 0808 223 1133 or by email to tradingstandards@wolverhampton.gov.uk . The fact they’re redirecting people to those contacts, rather than the police, suggests that this may be a case of dodgy sellers.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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It should be made illegal to knock on someone’s door to sell anyone. This is not 1980. There are alternate ways to advertise now.
Eh, no
Definitely make cold calling activities require a local authority permit (same as streetworks)
Then the council can deny issuing 100% of permits for cold callers
Absolutely. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should need to visit me at home uninvited to sell me anything or convince me to donate anything. Nobody should have their day interrupted by cold callers.
Cold calling should definitely be illegal & everyone should be informed that it is illegal. This will put a stop to all the theft/ ‘scams perpetrated on the elderly & less clued up individuals. The amount of scams/ theft that is going on (doorstep & everywhere) is sickening.
You could say all cold calling is a SCAM as you part with money you didn’t expect to be parting with. When someone uninvited gets you to part with your cash then its always a SCAM, it might be a scam with a small s, but some of the psychology these people use to make it hard for you to say “no” and the fact most people find it hard to be impolite and shut their door in peoples faces means they behave like scammers.
I agree with other comments about banning doorstep selling of utilities and cold calling.
Many years ago received a mailing advertising broadband package from a small broadband provider. Then a few days later during the evening at night had a very aggressive sales person who door knocked with his colleague and used intimidating and coercive tactics to try and get me to switch providers. I refused.
https://www.councilonaging.org/blog/dont-let-scammers-spoil-the-season/#comment-1506