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In this issue:
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has issued warnings to businesses regarding misleading invoices.
It appears that various organisations are issuing official looking ‘renewal’ notices to holders of UK registered patents and trademarks offering to renew the rights for fees greatly in excess of the official renewal fees.
These are scams as the organisations are not linked to any official patent or trade mark office and the services they are offering are not official services. The only offices which are able to provide legal protection for patents, designs and trade marks in the UK are the UK Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office, the Community Trade Mark Office (more formally known as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, as well as other national trade mark registries and patent offices.
Any Coventry business receiving such an invoice are asked to report this to Coventry Trading Standards Business Advice Line on 024 7683 3333 or directly to the IPO Office: misleadinginvoices@ipo.gov.uk.
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Trading Standards have been alerted to a spam text received by a local resident offering a Payday loan.
Spam texts are usually randomly generated numbers advertising services such as accident ‘ambulance chasers’, PPI claims or as in this case, Payday Loans.
There are two options you can follow when it comes to spam messages. These won't completely stop spam messages but might reduce the amount received in the future:
Report it to your network provider
The big networks have a simple, FREE method to help you do this. Just forward the message to 7726 (spells SPAM), making sure it includes the sender's number.
Report it to the Information Commissioner
The second option is to report it to the Information Commissioner (ICO), which can fine firms up to £500,000 for the most serious breaches of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), which govern spam texts. In 2013 a pay day loans company was fined £175,000 after it was found to be sending millions of unlawful spam texts.
The golden rule here is never to respond to any such spam texts, as you will be confirming that your mobile number is live and active.
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We continue to receive calls from local residents who have been contacted by scammers claiming that they can rid computers of viruses or are able to fix other issues affecting a computer's performance.
We have issued many warnings in the past but we have now heard of another variant in the approach. A local resident received an unsolicited telephone call, and was advised that there were issues with their broadband connection. This in turn was damaging the resident's PC and the caller explained that they needed access to their PC to resolve.
When challenged by the resident as to which broadband provider he was calling from, the scammer hung up.
Our advice
Don't respond to such calls. Never allow someone who phones you out of the blue to have remote access to your computer as not only can they install viruses etc. they may have access to any personal information that is stored on the PC.
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For
more information on scams, visit: www.coventry.gov.uk/scams
Citizens Advice consumer service: 03454 04 05 06 or www.adviceguide.org
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office): 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.org.uk
The
Fine Seafood Co has recalled all date codes of its Smoked Salmon 100g due to
the presence of high levels of Listeria monocytogenes, and its Plain and
Peppered Smoked Mackerel 240g because these products have incorrect use-by
dates.
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause food poisoning in
certain groups of people, such as pregnant women, unborn and newborn babies,
and anyone with reduced immunity, particularly the over-60s.
Product
Identification:
Product
Name: Smoked Salmon
Brand
Name: Fine Seafood Co
Pack
size: 100g
Product
Name: Plain Smoked Mackerel
Brand
Name: Fine Seafood Co
Pack
size: 240g
Product
Name: Peppered Smoked Mackerel
Brand
Name: Fine Seafood Co
Pack
size: 240g
All
batch and date codes are affected
Advice
to consumers
If
you have bought one of the above products, do not eat it but return it to store
for a full refund.
Dairy Crest Ltd is recalling two date codes of Weight Watchers West Country Thick Cream – Reduced Fat due to the presence of high levels of the bacterium known as Bacillus cereus. This bacterium can cause food poisoning and means the product is a possible health risk to consumers.
Product identification:
Product: Weight Watchers West Country Thick Cream – Reduced Fat
Pack size: 200g
‘Use by’ dates: 13/08/14 and 14/08/14
No other Dairy Crest Ltd or Weight Watchers products are known to be affected.
Advice to consumers
If you have bought the above product, do not eat it. Instead, please contact the consumer care team at Dairy Crest Ltd by telephoning 0800 328 5344, emailing wwrecall@dairycrest.co.uk, or by writing to Consumer Care Manager, Freepost RTHB-ZHGU-UJKT, Weight Watchers, Dairy Crest Ltd, Thame, OX9 3PG.
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