Scamsters test licensees' gullibility

A licensee is warning others to be on their guard after being the target of an outrageously ambitious scam by a man claiming to know him.

Pete Trafford, licensee at the Blacksmiths, in Lastingham, North Yorkshire, was not caught out by the con-man, but fears other publicans could be duped.

The scam involved a man, calling himself "Ian", phoning the pub claiming to be a local joiner who knew the licensee.

He then made two requests. One was he wanted the pub to lay on four bottles of champagne for a surprise 40th birthday, with the promise he would put £300 behind the bar.

But the other was he was trying to buy a van off a bankrupt friend for £4,000. "Ian" then claimed he was £780 short and wanted to send a taxi to the pub to pick up the money and would settle up with the licensee later.

"We've had scams before, but nothing like this," said Pete. "It sounds ridiculous, but the guy was very, very convincing. He was insisting that he knew me.

"We're a relatively small pub, so I know a lot of people. But I can imagine in a bigger pub, someone could get caught out."

Meanwhile, another warning has gone out over a scam which involves licensee being asked to hand over cash with the promise of their pub appearing on an industry website.

The warning comes from on-line pub guide - pub-explorer.com - which says the problem of con-artists asking pubs for money in return for photos to go on a website is increasing.

Robert Mansfield, founder of pub-explorer.com, said those carrying out the scams often claim to be from a legitimate company.

"Landlords should always contact the company directly before handing money over," he said.