I hope that sharing my experience will help someone else avoid the same situation, especially elderly and vulnerable residents.”
When one Hastoe resident picked up the phone to someone claiming to work alongside her housing association, she didn't automatically sense that something was wrong. The tenant answered questions about herself and the repairs which were needed in her property. Following a lucky guess by the caller, she even confirmed she was waiting for an extractor fan to be replaced. It was only afterwards the tenant realised she had not yet reported the extractor fan repair to Hastoe so this should have been a sign that the caller was not working with Hastoe as they claimed.
Thinking the call was genuine, she agreed to communicate via Whatsapp to send photos of the repairs within her property. She spent the whole day taking photos of different rooms in her home and providing them with her confidential information. She said, "You think you know it all about scams but suddenly I noticed a few word changes in their messages. They started saying they were working with Hastoe, not for Hastoe. Then they started latching on to any potential repairs problems and told me I definitely had a claim against Hastoe." Feeling suspicious, she searched for the number online and was horrified when she realised they were not who they said they were.
After I realised that I had sent the photos to a scammer, I felt like a stranger had looked in my house. It was violating."
Feeling manipulated, the tenant sent a final message saying she did not give permission for them to use her information or represent her. She then called Hastoe immediately to report the call. She was very distressed and wanted to point out that she would not want to make a claim against Hastoe. She shared that she liked her home and wouldn't want to do anything to put her at risk of losing it. The Customer Service Team was able to reassure the tenant and give her details of who to report it to. The Customer Service Team also passed the details of the scam to the Communications Team so they could send a warning message to other tenants in the area.
If you receive a suspicious phone call:
Follow the steps below to keep yourself safe. Please contact us to let us know so that we can take any action necessary. For example, if it was a cold caller, we can alert other residents living in your area and report it to the local council.
1. Stop - The phone call could be a scam.
2. Hang up - Hang up and call the company they claim to be from to check if it is a scam.
3. Report - Report scam calls to Action Fraud and make your family aware too. You can call them on 0300 123 2040.
