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Ukash Voucher Fraud

Trading Standards Officers in Wales are urging consumers to be very cautious when dealing with telephone cold callers offering loans following the payment of brokerage fees using Ukash vouchers.

Ukash vouchers are a payment mechanism available from local shops operating PayPoint, Payzone and Epay terminals. These terminals are commonplace at local post offices, corner stores and petrol filling stations and many consumers will be aware of their local stores where these terminals exist in order to pay utility bills and pay as you go mobile telephone charges.

Ukash is a payment mechanism designed for online transactions to cover situations where a consumer does not have a bank account or credit card and Ukash vouchers can be easily purchased from local outlets with these terminals. Once bought these vouchers instantly have a cash value.

Steve Jones of Trading Standards Wales said “It is important for consumers to understand that a Ukash voucher acts just like a genuine cash sale has taken place and like cash, once it is handed over to another person it is not retrievable unlike a cheque which can be stopped or a credit card payment where there may be some security under the Consumer Credit Act.”

Trading Standards Officers throughout Wales are becoming increasingly aware of situations where consumers are receiving telephone calls from fraudulent loan brokers.

In many cases a consumer is advised over the phone by a caller that a previous loan application has been successful and that to receive the money then a broker’s fee is payable which must be made in the form of a Ukash voucher.

Once the consumer has purchased a voucher from a local outlet for the fees which sometimes run into several hundreds of pounds then the so-called broker will ask the consumer to reveal the security numbers on the vouchers over the phone.

Once the information has been revealed to the ‘broker’ then they can cash the voucher.

Evidence shows that several consumers across Wales have received these telephone calls and have subsequently purchased vouchers which have been cashed but no loan was ever provided.

Steve Jones stressed that “It is important for consumers throughout Wales to be aware that the Ukash product is not designed for person to person payments; it should only be used for making payments online at Participating Ukash Merchants. Genuine participating Ukash Merchants will never ask for payment to be made by sending voucher details over the telephone or by email.”

If you believe you may have been a victim of this scam contact Consumer Direct on 0808 156 6747 or Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.