Welshpool man, 74, scammed
Published on 24 July 2015 10:30 AM
A 74-year-old Welshpool man who was scammed is teaming up with Age Cymru to warn older people about scams during Scams Awareness Month.
John Davies unwittingly subscribed up to a £100 a year email magazine when he was renewing his driving licence online.
"About a year ago, I fell for a clever online scam after following instructions on my driving licence renewal reminder from the DVLA.
"I was unaware, at the time, that the first couple of entries on the on the DVLA's over 70s website are not official DVLA entries but adverts, or ‘paid for' entries.
"I clicked the top one and a form appeared that - on a quick glance, looked like the official one - it had the crown on it and everything.
"I failed to pick up on the small print that said they were not affiliated to DVLA, completed the form and paid a nominal postage fee."
John then learnt that he'd actually signed up to receive a quarterly email motor magazine for £25.00 from a company based in Hong Kong.
He immediately contacted his bank to cancel the £25.00 payment that the company - Net-Secure.com, had taken but John's bank refused to reimburse him.
John appealed and won back his money back but was disappointed by the way his bank treated him, as he explains:
"If government, big companies and high street institutions such as the banks insist that we do all our business online they can't just turn their backs and walk away when things go wrong - in fact if older people can't be safe on a government website, then where can they be safe?
"It is easy to be scammed, but I was lucky and I was able to get my money back, but how many other people are there out there who have also been scammed and lost their money and it is gone for good?"