Police are reminding people to be vigilant online and on the phone following an increase in incidents.

East Ayrshire Safer Communities Officer, PC Hannaford-Bennett said: “It’s important to remember that if it’s illegal offline, then it’s illegal online. This includes posting anything which promotes crime, making threats against you online or attempts to force you to pay money to prevent your personal information or images being posted or shared.”

“Criminals are targeting people through online scams. Take a moment and think if you’ve received an email stating that you have won a holiday, yet you haven’t entered a competition or from a company saying you need to update your payment details by clicking a link or from a company you don’t recognise with a link to enter your details.”

“Victims are also being contacted in a variety of methods by fraudsters and being told they owe an outstanding debt or they have a problem with their internet. Anyone can be fooled as these people are clever and cunning and can often catch you off guard.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Online and telephone scam warning<br><br>Police in Ayrshire are reminding people to remain vigilant following an increase in telephone and online scams.<br><br>A number of local residents have been targeted by fraudsters in recent weeks.<br><br>More info:<a href="https://t.co/NmfNl2GxXC">https://t.co/NmfNl2GxXC</a> <a href="https://t.co/v7XlmivcpU">pic.twitter.com/v7XlmivcpU</a></p>— Ayrshire Police (@AyrshirePolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/AyrshirePolice/status/1364298450700038147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“If you receive a phone call or an email which has come out of the blue, if they are telling you to respond quickly, to keep it a secret and asking you to send money, this is a scam. If you’re not sure about a caller – keep your business, your business, just say you aren’t interested and hang up or if you aren’t sure about an email, before acting on it, check that it is valid.”

“Never give your personal information such as bank or card details over the phone or enter your personal information into websites you don’t recognise or email links you are sent and never transfer money to them or arrange a payment collection”

“We ask everyone to follow our safety advice, pass the information to family and friends and report anything that appears suspicious.”

Anyone with concerns about crime in their area is encouraged to contact Police Scotland by calling 101 (in an emergency always dial 999).