Pembrokeshire County Council Trading Standards and the Authority’s Community Alarms team are warning anyone who uses a care line or community alarm to be wary following three recent reports of suspicious phone calls.

One person was informed by an unknown caller they were eligible for an alarm, when they already had one.

Another received a call over the weekend claiming to be from the Council and that they were calling out the next day to check the alarm, despite there being no report of a fault.

The third suspicious call offered to reduce the fee for the alarm by half and persistently requested payment card details.

The public should be aware that all such equipment accessed through Pembrokeshire County Council is fitted by the Council’s Community Alarm Team and Delta Wellbeing.

Delta Wellbeing operates the call centre responsible for receiving and forwarding calls when someone presses their alarm for assistance.

This service is not provided by anyone else for the Council and the Community Alarm staff do not work weekends and would not contact users at weekends.

Other providers offering similar services privately are not connected to the service provided by Pembrokeshire County Council.

The advice from Trading Standards is not to give details over the phone. If in doubt about the validity of the caller, contact the Council on 01437 764551

Anyone who already has an alarm installed will have a contract in place. The Council or Delta Wellbeing would only make contact if a fault with the equipment or a low battery was identified.

Anyone interested in obtaining a care line should contact the Council on 01437 764551.

To resolve a problem with a care line contact the provider directly while for problems with equipment provided by the Council contact the Community Alarms Team on 01437 776115.

For general consumer advice and to report suspicious calls contact the Citizens Advice helpline on 0808 223 1133 or for Welsh speakers on 0808 223 1144.