News / Lifeboat donations, online scam and doorstep seller warnings
THE LERWICK Lifeboat has been presented with donations totalling nearly £2,000.
A sum of £1,216.59 was raised when 23 children aged from five to 16, 12 adults and a dog walked or cycled from the Eshaness Lighthouse to the Hillswick Hall on 29 June.
NorthLink Ferries also presented the lifeboat crew with a cheque for £718, money that was raised from selling fish and chips on the board the Hjaltlandand Hrosseyas part of the RNLI’s fish supper campaign.
The crew said they were “hugely grateful” for the fundraising efforts.
THREE local companies have come together to raise awareness of online scams which could affect Shetland businesses.
JLP Internet, GTS and NB Communications will send posters and a covering letter to around 500 businesses about the “dangers that lurk in our email inboxes”.
The companies said that online criminals are “spoofing emails and intercepting and hijacking emails and then asking for the money to be sent to the new details”.
“They will often set-up email addresses similar to the usual sender/recipient which makes it look as though it is coming from a trusted, legitimate source,” they added.
“The email will often only show their display name rather as their actual email too, which makes it look all the more real unless you really look at it.
“Spoofing emails are usually specifically targeted attacks where the scammer researches the business before setting up emails to pretend to be employees and either send emails to other employees with financial power or target customers to detail payment changes.”
They reminded locals to “exercise extreme caution” when it comes to emails relating to financial information.
SHETLAND Islands Council, meanwhile, has issued a warning of door-to-door sellers offering to resurface driveways.
“We’re getting reports of false claims about connections to the council, and of high pressure sales tactics being used,” said trading standards team leader David Marsh.
“Rogue traders were claiming to ‘have materials left over from doing a job for the council’ even before I started in trading standards, and that was over thirty years ago.
“It wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now – it’s just a ruse to try to make you think you might get a bargain.”
Doorstep sellers, or other suspicious activity, can be reported to trading standards on 01595 744887 or to Police Scotland on 101 – but if you feel threatened by someone then dial 999.
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