Fuel voucher scam is targeting city's hard-up, warns York Citizens Advice

York Citizens Advice says it believes the cheats are offering worthless digital fuel vouchers at up to £5 or £10 a time.

When the victim tries to use them to top up their pre-payment meter, they don't work. And even worse, the victims themselves could potentially be committing a crime by trying to use the vouchers, said Fiona McCulloch of York Citizens Advice.

"This is very, very depressing," Fiona said. "They are selling to people who are really desperate, and who think they're getting vouchers they can use to top up pre-payment meters. But they don't work!"

The CAB issues valid vouchers on behalf of City of York Council to local people who are desperately struggling to pay their bills.

People can call Citizens Advice, and provided they meet the eligibility criteria - they must be on low incomes or benefits, or have a health condition that requires their homes to be kept warm - the CAB can issue a voucher.

York Citizens Advice says it believes the cheats are offering worthless digital fuel vouchers at up to £5 or £10 a time (Image: Newsquest)

The vouchers - worth £49 for a family or £28 for a single person - are sent out electronically, by text or email, and give a code that can be used to top up a pre-payment meter on production of ID.

As part of the arrangement, Citizens Advice then gets in touch again with the person they sent the voucher to, to make an appointment to offer financial advice.

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The organisation became suspicious this week after it had sent out vouchers to a string of people, then could not contact them again to offer follow-up advice appointments.

A volunteer spotted that the numbers they couldn't contact were all sequential, Fiona said.

This suggested that someone had bought a large batch of sim cards, and was using different numbers to repeatedly claim vouchers - hoping the fraud would go un-noticed because they were using a different number each time.

Fiona said Citizens Advice cottoned on very quickly - but not before about £750 worth of vouchers had been sent out.

The CAB believes these vouchers - each with their own code - are now being repeatedly offered to desperate families who think they are getting a bargain. But, because the vouchers have already been used, they are no longer valid.

"We believe they are being sold in pubs and other venues around the area," Fiona said. "They will be saying something like 'I have a £49 fuel voucher on my phone, I'll sell it to you for, say, £10.

"You think that's a bargain, you hand over the £10, the voucher is forwarded to you - and it doesn't work!"

Fiona said the message was: if you are offered such a voucher at a bargain rate, don't be tempted. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

She said people worried about paying their fuel bills can contact York Citizens Advice to ask about a legitimate voucher, which is free provided you meet the criteria.

As a result of the scam, Citizens Advice has now tightened up its procedures, and will insist on ID before issuing vouchers, Fiona said. Advice can be given on how to provide ID electronically.

Th scam has been reported to North Yorkshire Police and to Action Fraud.

A police spokesperson said: "Our advice to anyone who has concerns about scams is to report them to Action Fraud, via their website or 0300 123 2040."

• For advice on how to cope with the cost of living, contact citizensadviceyork.org.uk/