'Covid phone scam cost Doncaster resident £800 and may have targeted borough'

They have never seen it so busy.
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The staff and volunteers who run Doncaster’s citizens advice bureau services have seen a surge of hundreds of calls that has seen them struggling to keep up since lockdown changed the borough.

Debt, criminal scams, fears of work and benefits – they have seen them all in the last few months. And they admit they could do with more people helping out as they prepare for more challenges in the coming months.

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James Woods, development officer at Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough, said that at first the organisation, which has offices in Doncaster town centre, Mexborough, and Stainforth, was getting inquiries about furlough and how it works. That has tailed off.

Volunteers at Stainforth CABVolunteers at Stainforth CAB
Volunteers at Stainforth CAB

Now they are more likely to be asked about the impact of being on the scheme, and to hear from people who have either lost their jobs, or are self employed and have seen their hours of work have been reduced.

He said the impact of lockdown had seen people falling behind with bills, rent and council tax, as well as seeing more people claiming universal credit, where he says there was still a four to five week wait for payment for the benefit – leading to a greater number of referrals.

"Employment has been an issue. Employers can’t afford to keep people on, so they are getting rid of staff,” he said.

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Recently, there has been a new concern – the rise of the scam.

James believes Doncaster was specifically targeted by phone scammers in the last few weeks because of reports of concerns that the numbers of Covid cases may be rising.

He said: “We have seen a big increase in scams, and I think that has happened particularly in Doncaster, where we have seen a scam involving test and trace. People are phoning people up saying to their victims that they have to pay for test and trace.

"For real test and trace there is no charge – but people are paying out money. We have seen someone have £800 taken from their account through this.

"That is something that we are really worried about.

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"It has been in the news that the number of cases in Doncaster had been rising, and we think that makes people more likely to agree to go along with these scams, and if people have been self isolating, they may not have anyone they can run it past, making them more vulnerable.

"We’ve had 30 to 40 calls about this sort of scam.

"If someone asks for financial details, its likely to be a scam.

"Citizens Advice nationally have not made us aware of the track and trace scam, so I think it may be a local issue.”

The organisation has seen a 65 per cent rise in contacts with the CAB in Doncaster between February and June, compared to the same period last year.

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And James admits the number of calls is a struggle, and they could do with more volunteers.

"As soon as we can, we want to bring in more volunteers, but with the current restrictions it’s difficult,” he said. “People are working tirelessly, but it’s been really busy since March. We are hoping that we may be able to do a volunteer recruitment drive in September.

"At present, we have 25 staff working different hours during the week. But in terms of calls demands, for instance, we took 211 calls on July 2. Some may go unanswered because we don’t have the capacity to answer all. There were 54 which were engaged, and 45 went unanswered. That’s 310 calls in total.

"Our advice is keep trying, and we do also have email, and a webchat.

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"Write down all the issues you want to raise and we’ll get back in three to five days. We’re tryng to open up as many channels as possible.

"Demand is really high – I’ve not known it as high before. We’re usually busy with debt queries after Christmas, but it’s constant at the moment.

"We have some people working out of our Mexborough and Stainforth offices, and we’re looking to put people in Doncaster this month to get more people in the phones.

“Not all our volunteers can work from home as some don’t have the facilities.

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"The budget is limited as well, in terms of buying equipment. People can help by donating via the website, or by donating PPE or cleaning equipment so we’re not havng to buy those. I’m not sure people always realise that we’re a charity. We get a grant, but we’re not part of the council.”

The team is looking to do as much as possible face to face, with some on a videolink webchat. They hope to do face to face meetings in person when the Government says it is safe.

They have benefits and debt advisors working from home, although they also have interview rooms where staff can work in isolation.

"The Covid emergency has been a borough wide issue, affecting affluent as well as less affluent areas,” said James.

"We’re worried now about what will happen in August, when restictions on landlord evictions are lifted.”

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