FENSA warns of ‘refund’ phone scam
24th November 2015

FENSA has issued a warning to installers to watch out for crooks who are phoning members asking for confidential bank details under the pretence of offering money refunds.

The alert, sent to all 7,000 members, says a number of  installers reported receiving calls. In every case, members  say the criminals claimed to be from FENSA, saying they are owed refunds on money owed to them. They also add credibility by saying the call is a follow-up to a letter they should have received from FENSA.

FENSA has immediately stressed that its staff would never ask members for bank details, the organisation is not in the process of issuing refunds and has not sent out any such letter.

It urges anyone receiving such a call to contact the police by dialling 101 and give the crime number: 
NFRC151101236514, and also to report it to FENSA by email:  enquiries@fensa.org.uk.

The scammers appear to be using publicly available information from the FENSA website – company name, address and telephone number – to target installers.  FENSA has contacted the police and reported this activity to Action Fraud.

FENSA Managing Director Chris Mayne said:  “In this day and age it seems to be one of the dangers of being a well known and prominent organisation.  We have immediately emailed all installers to warn them of this criminal activity, and issued a warning at the point of log in on the FENSA website.  We are now repeating this warning via social media and through the trade press.”

The Action Fraud website has extensive information on how to protect any business from fraudsters: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/small-businesses-know-your-business