Warning over Council Tax scam

A COUNCILLOR at Warrington has issued a warning after a local residents received a ‘phone call from a company offering to help them get their Council Tax bill reduced.
Cllr Geoff Settle says the advice the company was offering was likely to come with a “hidden fee” – and could be obtained by residents for free.
He urged people to be wary of unsolicited phone calls and instead to use the iCAN service available from the borough council’s trading standards service.
Cllr Settle said he was contacted by a Cinnamon Brow resident about an offer that seemed too good to turn down.
He said: “I received a similar call 12 months ago with the promise of a small pot of gold.
“Always suspicious, I traced the call back to a company in Manchester and passed the details to Trading Standardss. The conversation I had then was enough to warn me off.”
Cllr Settle discovered that no fewer than five people at Cinnamon Brow had received phone calls from a polite but persuasive person offering to help them get their Council Tax banding lowered and had arranged to meet the company representative.
He again contacted Trading Standards and as a result of what he learned typed up a flyer which he delivered to the five residents. The company representative pulled up in his car as Cllr Settle was leaving.
Cllr Settle said: “It turns out the advice the company are giving may come with a hidden fee and it is something that you can do for yourself by reading the latest iCAN information sheet”.
The iCAN service is available at www.tswarrington.co.uk where residents can sign up for regular iCAN warning messages.
Messages are broadcast on a wide range of consumer issues and are used to warn residents about current cons and scams. They can be received by telephone or email.
Cllr Settle added: “I have been using the service for over a year and it’s very useful. Remember if it looks too good to be true it usually is! I urge everyone to sign up for it.”