High street voucher: Warnings issued over door-to-door cold calls

No one will call at your door or contact you by phone or text about the scheme, said Supt Gerard Pollock

Police have urged people to be on the lookout for scams as the £100 high street voucher scheme is rolled out.

Reports have been received of cold callers arriving at peoples' homes alleging they can help them apply for a voucher.

The instances reported so far have occurred in the North Down and Ards council area but are "very small in number", police said.

Applications for the scheme opened on Monday morning.

Supt Gerard Pollock said: "What they [the scammers] are presenting as or what they are telling the member of the public is that they're going to apply to the scheme for them, take their details and then they will receive the £100 voucher to their home address.

"There is no process to do that and there will be no one officially from the Department for the Economy or any official person calling at your home address to take your details in order to register you for the scheme.

"If you're contacted out of the blue, either by phone or by text or by someone you don't know, seeking to get you enrolled for the scheme, that's a clear sign that it might be a scam."

There have been less than 10 reports to police of cold calls relating directly to the voucher scheme, however Supt Pollock said: "We are conscious that throughout the pandemic we have seen scammers, as new things come online, exploit those as an opportunity to gain, not just financial details, but personal details."

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Economy Minister Gordon Lyons said his department was aware this type of scam could happen.

"I will work with the police and my own department will continue with our communication plan to help prevent this and get that message out there that you do not have to give over bank details in any way," he said.

'Be vigilant'

Commissioner for older people Eddie Lynch warned people to "be vigilant" of anyone contacting them about the scheme.

"Nobody will call at your door about this, nobody will ask for bank details, so just ignore them," he said.

Supt Pollock said all the reports received related to incidents that happened "towards the end of last week".

"We haven't received any reports in terms of scams over the weekend or indeed yesterday on the day of the launch," he said.

Almost 500,000 applications have now been received for the scheme.

Everyone aged 18 and over is eligible to apply for a card to use in shops before the end of November.