Watch out for these cold-calling rip-offs

Serena Cowdy explains how to avoid the five worst cold-calling rip-offs.

Citizens Advice is warning about the increasing number of fraudsters who are contacting people by phone and offering to find them a loan, before charging extortionate upfront fees.

Of course, more often than not, once that fee has been paid, the loan fails to materialise.

What's more, if you then phone up to find out what's happened to your loan, you'll be charged a premium rate.

Citizens Advice is so concerned about this, it recently submitted a super-complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), giving the regulator 90 days in which to provide a response. The OFT can then decide to launch a full investigation if it so wishes.

Unfortunately, with money tight for many of us, fraudsters are taking advantage of this and preying on people's desperation to scam them out of what little cash they have.

So here are four cold-call scams to keep an eye out for:

1. We'll write off your debts

Some companies call you out of the blue and offer to help you reclaim your bank charges, write off your debts, or, as in the case above, offer to find you a loan so that you can get your hands on some extra cash.

They are preying on your financial vulnerability, and - in my opinion - should be avoided at all costs. They usually ask for a substantial payment upfront, and very rarely live up to expectations. Alternatively, you might be persuaded to hand over your bank details and later find money has been taken from your account without your permission.

If you want to try to get debts written off, this thread on the Consumer Action Group website will help you do it for yourself.

However, if you're struggling with debt your best course of action is to contact a free debt advisory service, such as Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Citizens Advice, or National Debtline.

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• The Consumer Credit Counselling Service writes:

  The first steps to facing up to your debt

  With the recession still biting and cutbacks in public spending on the way, getting your finances back on track should be a priority for 2011.

  Read this post

2. We have this great investment opportunity...

Another cold calling scam is the share selling perpetrated by 'boiler rooms'. Criminals - posing as reputable stockbrokers - call and try to get you to put money into 'golden' investment opportunities.

Don't touch these outfits with a bargepole. At best, you're likely to end up with shares that are virtually worthless. At worst, you'll hand over the cash and never hear another thing.

To find out more about this, and two more, illegal phone scams, read The top three most dangerous phone scams.

3. You can trust us...

The cold calls I receive most frequently come from companies that I'm supposedly involved with. I seem to get endless calls from my mobile network provider, telling me that I should renew my contract with them.

A friend of mine regularly receives calls, supposedly from Sky, advising him to buy a pricey warranty if he doesn't want to end up with enormous repair bills in the future.

In my experience, these calls are very rarely from companies I'm involved with. In fact, they're from other firms, masquerading as your providers in an attempt to steal their business. That means if you sign up to anything, you could end up paying for two of everything!

If I'm offered a new mobile deal that sounds particularly good, I'll put the phone down and call my provider's free helpline. If they know nothing about it, there's a good chance it's nothing to do with them.

In any event, never commit to anything on the spot. Ask for paperwork to be sent to you so you have time to mull it over.

And remember that as part of the current Distance Selling Regulations, you're entitled to a seven day 'cooling off' period, during which you can cancel your order at any time.

4. We exploit your goodwill

We all know what doorstep salespeople can be like. However, one of the scummiest doorstep scams I've come across in recent years is a little more subtle, and makes money from exploiting people's good natures.

Have you ever had a 'charity bag' pushed through your letterbox? It will usually come in a little packet, asking you to donate your old clothes to a good cause. All you need to do is leave the full bag outside your door.

Unfortunately, many of these outfits go on to sell the clothes and pocket the cash instead. Shocking eh?

Of course, some of these requests are from genuine, reputable charities. So, look for a Registered Charity number. If there isn't one, dump those request bags straight in the bin.

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• Tony Levene writes:

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  When the phone calls with "unknown number" on the caller ID just as you are preparing the evening meal, what's the odds that it's someone after your money?

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Find out more about what your rights are with doorstep sellers in Scammers who invade your home.

Who calls you and how to stop them

Oh, the irony. In the middle of writing this article, I've just been cold called on my mobile. It was a long, strange number, and the phone was put down as soon as I picked up.

If this happens to you, you can do a bit of detective work by searching for the number at WhoCalls. This is a user-supplied database, listing the phone numbers of telemarketers, scammers, and other people you'd really rather avoid.

When I typed my mystery number in, I found comments from various other users saying that they'd been called from that number up to ten times a day. Oh dear. Well, at least I know now, and can have my high-pitched whistle at the ready.

One of the best ways to avoid cold calls it to register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make sales or marketing calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so.

Some unscrupulous cold callers may slip through the net, but registering will almost certainly reduce the number you receive. And ignore anyone calling asking for a payment to complete your TPS registration. This is a scam; the TPS is a free service!

Of course, friends of mine have employed slightly more extreme tactics to get rid of unwelcome house callers - including putting them 'on hold' for half an hour, suddenly preaching about religion and getting their huge hairy dogs to leap up at the front door.

Of course (ahem) I couldn't possibly condone that sort of behaviour...

Do any other house calling tactics make you cross? Leave a comment here and let us know.

More: The four worst car scams | The cash for gold sham