Bracknell

Trading Standards Officers from Bracknell Forest Borough Council are warning residents to be wary of official looking parcel delivery cards, which are designed to trick recipients into a £9 premium rate phone call.

The Bracknell cards, which bear the logo PDS Parcel Delivery Services, look like a card any reputable company might issue about claiming delivery of a parcel.

In this Bracknell case, however, the claim is that the company is awaiting instruction to arrange delivery of a digital camera and ask the recipient to call the telephone number to obtain a Security Confirmation Code.

Information is given that the number is a premium rate line charged at £1.50 a minute for up to 5 minutes and 50 seconds, in very small print at the bottom of the card. These cards claim to come from Wrexham.

However, Studio Telecom (the company behind this scam) is based in Belize and was fined £20,000 by the UK regulator for premium rate telephone services, ICSTIS last June after complaints about a similar 'promotion'.

John Nash, Bracknell Senior Trading Standards Officer, said: "We are advising residents to be sure they check the details before phoning any premium rate number.

"This is simply another scam to lure people into phoning a high-cost number in the expectation of something for nothing."

For more information about ICSTIS (the premium rate services regulator), including information about current investigations and previous adjudications, visit www.icstis.org.uk.

Their press office can be contacted by the media at pressoffice@icstis.org.uk or on either 020 7940 7408 or 020 7940 7464.

The Bracknell Council's Trading Standards web pages at http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/tradingstandards provide information about general consumer advice and information.

For advice on any consumer issue people in Bracknell can call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06

Bracknell Forest Borough Council