Bogus ad warning

Hosts are asked to be on their guard after a charity magazine advertising scam has reared its head again.

Licensees have been targeted by callers purporting to represent charity magazines, typically supporting local children or the emergency services. The callers demand money for adverts placed in non-existent papers.

To lend credibility to the scam, the callers are armed with a new tool - the licensee's date of birth. They pretend this is the password agreed during a previous conversation some months earlier.

Preston licensee Graham Rowson of the Plungington Tavern said he had been called on 10 occasions over the last two weeks. "They tried to get me to pay £199 for an advert, saying I'd agreed to it several months ago. This time they even knew my date of birth and said that it was my

chosen password from last time we spoke," he said. "They really try to confuse you and make you feel guilty."

Rowson offers some tips for avoiding the scam.

"I never ever do business on the phone, so I know I would not have agreed to anything. I say that to them on the phone and confront them, saying: 'you are a fraudster.' The phone usually goes dead."