THREE Helensburgh residents have fallen victim to text and WhatsApp message scams, say police – as a new warning is issued urging people to beware of fraudsters.

And Argyll and West Dunbartonshire Police's community engagement team has reached out to Grey Matters – the group set up for Helensburgh's over-60s – and other agencies to help spread the word about the increasing threat from con artists.

PC Laura Evans gave a presentation on the issue to members of the Helensburgh and Lomond community planning group on Thursday.

She said: “Every day we get a new scam coming up. It can be by emails being intercepted and sent to customers, reporting that details have changed with their account.

“Victims can end up making payments to the fraudster, and with the number of small businesses we have in Argyll and Bute, we know how hard an impact that could have.

“Using the home phone is also a great way of getting in touch with people. It can be somebody pretending to be from the bank, Amazon, Sky, making out there is a problem with the person’s account.

“They will ask for a log-in, and even for people to go to their local banks and withdraw funds.

“There can also be text and Whatsapp messages – we have had three victims of this in Helensburgh alone.

"They can say ‘hi mum or dad, my phone is broken so I am using a friend’s phone’

“They then get in touch again saying that they have missed a payment on a bill, and ask for money to be transferred to them.

"People have fallen for this and lost several thousand pounds.

“We are coming into spring, and that is a time when bogus workers will come around pretending to do work on driveways and roofs.

“We have seen more of this happening, but with this being the first year with restrictions lifted, we think there will be more. They will target people to offer them a handrail or a keysafe.

“The final method is through social media, like Facebook Marketplace. Everybody loves a bargain.

“Scammers may tell you to pay for an item, then delete their account and you never receive the item.

“It is something people are falling victim to, and it cannot be missed.”

PC Evans added: “We know it is a massive issue and a lot of work has taken place over the last year and a half.

“It has been nice to see people volunteer to help out, but it is not something the police can deal with in isolation.

“We have created a Care at Home network which we have opened up through Third Sector Interface, and provides a text alert when a fraud is taking place in the area.

“Carers can also pass messages on to clients face to face, so as to raise awareness. We are also delighted that Argyll and Bute Council has helped to fund a number of ‘call blockers’ as well as a little book of phone scams.

“We have linked in with Grey Matters and also spoken to the fire service about providing materials during home fire safety visits.

“It is a frightening problem and has been getting worse since the start of the pandemic. The solution lies in education and communication and we have the means to do that collectively.”