I had this warning sent to me via email.
If you receive a call from 01788 574832, beware! We have been advised that callers from this number say they are from “The Pembrokeshire Guide”. When they are challenged to give their name and to state whether they are from the County Council, they hang up. On other occasions, the caller has said they are from “Great Days Out “, and becomes abusive when told they are not needed. DON’T FALL VICTIM TO THESE SCAMS! The Tourism Team at Pembrokeshire County Council only makes initial contact via the rate card, which was posted out in late May. We only phone if we need to discuss your requirements in more detail, and when we phone we will always identify ourselves as Pembrokeshire County Council Tourism Team. Normally, payment for an advert in the Pembrokeshire Holiday Guide is made by cheque when you return the booking form. We would again contact you by post if you had sent in a form without a cheque, or if there were a problem with the cheque. If you are in any doubt about the authenticity of anyone claiming to represent the Pembrokeshire Guide, please call us on 01437 775516 or email tourism@pembrokeshire.gov.uk. You may find the following site of interest – www.whocallsme.com. This is a message board where you can share details of potentially suspicious calls. A search facility enables you to see if other people have had dubious calls from the same phone numbers as you. Details of the above scam are one of hundreds listed.
The following is an item from the Visit Scotland website Accommodation providers are asked to remain alert to possible booking scams. They tend to follow this pattern: 1. Enquiry is made for a booking, for a medium to large amount of people, for a reasonably long period of time. The total cost is usually over £1,000 2. Enquiry is made if credit cards are accepted 3. The accommodation provider replies giving the total cost of the booking 4. The enquirer responds with the details of how "payment" will be made. This involves the provider being sent the credit card details of the fraudster, who will ask that a sum vastly over the cost is charged to the card. 5. Then, the provider must send the balance between this sum and the accommodation cost to a "booking agent" whose details are given. These scams are constantly in circulation and businesses are advised to treat them with extreme caution. The latest one seen comes from a "Fred Martin". Other names noted doing the rounds are: william ken, Michael charytor, Mr Allen C Thompson, Murphy Lee, Dr David Hester, becky smithkline, Franklin Great, William Dimson, Frank George, Rev Frank Adams. Businesses should be aware that scams like these do sometimes use real people's names as a front for their operations.
My Company recently had a telephone call which simply asked for details of our local schools. The caller then suggested that a leaflets on drug awareness would distributed to these schools. The caller then asked the staff member who took the call to confirm our address, at this point she became suspicious of the call and past the call on to me. The caller again asked for our details, when I questioned the reason, I was told that we (the company) had agreed to sponsor the drug awayness leaflets by telephone last December.
I curtly told the caller that this was not the case at which point she terminated the call. A quick 1471 call revealed that the caller had withheld their number!
I have since received this warning via email from Pembrokeshire Council :-
Charity advertising scams continue to proliferate, with this article from the Daily Mirror website highlighting some typical examples. If you receive similar calls, don’t be browbeaten by unscrupulous sales tactics. A verbal contract can be enforced if they have a recording of the phone conversation, but they should also advise you at the time that the conversation is being recorded. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of the offer, the safest thing to do is to say “no”. You can then confidently call their bluff on any threats they may make thereafter.
My suggestion is do not ever pay for any form of advertising unless you have ta copy advert and a copy of whatever paper, leaflet , etc that the entry was supposed to have been inserted into.
The Druidstone Hotel over looking St Brides bay near Broad haven recently won the most romantic place to eat in Britain award. I wil add more details very soon in the mean time they can be contacted on 01437 781221Europe: Druidstone and the Pembrokeshire Coast, Wales
Mark Ellingham, publisher of Rough Guides, says this:
The Pembrokeshire coast in Wales is a five-hour drive from London, but once there you can dump the car and — well, do nothing. What's the appeal? First, a wonderful, eccentric hotel, the Druidstone, in whose walled garden above the sea you are guaranteed relaxed and diverting company. You can sit in a cliff-top bar and look out over St Bride's Bay, where last year a dolphin spent most of the year entertaining guests, dipping amid the breakers. The Druidstone beach is one of those childhood classics that stretches forever at low tide, leaving rock-pools of crabs and whitebait in its wake. When the sun is out, it's hard to look beyond it. But there is plenty when you do, for it lies astride the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, which is truly one of the loveliest walks in Europe — switch-backing the cliffs above a sparkling Irish Sea. To the north is St David's, Britain's smallest city, to the south the stunning sands and rock formations of Marloes. And if this puts you in the mood for getting out on the water, you can take boats out to Ramsey or Skomer Islands, with puffins gliding along beside you. Each is maintained as a wildlife reserve, and home to legions of sea-birds razorbills, guillemots, gannets, choughs, fulmars and many more. Rough Guides publishes much of its Wales guide online.
I hope that this web site will be of some use to you in selecting your holiday destination or sourcing products in Pembrokeshire.
best wishes
Huw
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Be aware of these latest Scams update 14/09/
