Sutton Council is warning residents not to be taken in by scammers claiming they are due a council tax rebate.

Residents in the borough have reported receiving telephone calls from criminals falsely claiming they are due a rebate from the council.

The sophisticated fraud involves people being asked to reveal their bank details to the caller over the telephone or send them to a fake email address. The caller often claims to be from a fictitious company Claimant UK.

The reason for handing over the bank details vary, but are all based around the claim that a rebate is due to an overpayment or a banding reduction.  Some of these scams are also asking for the person to provide a copy of their Council Tax bill and identification.

Sutton Council is warning residents not to give out their details and immediately report the incident to the police.

These scams, which have been carried out across London, also use fake email addresses which are very similar to the email address of the council within which the person resides.  For example the email address for the scam in Kensington and Chelsea was rbkc@safe-mail.net.

If contacted, take the person’s name and then call the police on 101