BUDE Police would like to make the local

community aware of a telephone scam that was

attempted recently.

A Bude resident was contacted by an man with an

Indian accent informing him that he was entitled to a

council tax rebate from Cornwall Council that dated back over a number of years. The unknown man asked for the individual's debit card details and the expiry date of the card in order that the rebate money could be paid back into the account. On this occasion no card details were passed.

Cornwall Council have confirmed that this call would not have been made by their Council Tax Department.

Sgt Lynden Hughes of the Bude Policing Team said: "On no occasion should an individual give any private

financial information to any person who calls their home or mobile number. We are seeing an increasing number of these scams that appear to be organised from abroad. Any 'cold call' should be treated with suspicion. Ask the caller for their full name, the telephone number of their head office and the location where they themselves work. You should then make enquiries with the company or organisation to confirm the call as genuine. Bona fide callers will accept this and co-operate."

The local policing teams can be contacted on:

Bude — 01288 357502 or email [email protected]">[email protected]; Launceston — 01566 771419 or email [email protected]">[email protected] and Camelford — 01840 213709 or email [email protected]">[email protected].