MARGARET River police are warning local residents and businesses to be wary of scam operators.
Senior Constable Ross Bartley said an elderly resident told them last week about some calls he has received from a person claiming to be from the Department of Grants.
The man was asked to provide some personal information, go to the post office, fill out some pensioner forms, and send money by wire transfer which would then in turn release a larger amount of money through a grants program.
“It was obviously a scam,” Const Bartley said.
“People should at no stage give out personal or bank information nor send any money unless they are totally confident who they are dealing with. Often seniors are targeted, and businesses in the South West have also been targeted.”
Scammers use technical words, fake websites or in this case variations of actual department names to make the request sound legitimate.
People should ignore suspicious emails, letters, and importantly phone calls or SMS messages.
Scammers will often coincide their calls when there are natural disasters, or financial changes in the state or country such as end of financial year/tax changes.
If in doubt, advice should be received from the Consumer Protection Advice Line 1300 30 40 54.
