Scammers are impersonating litter enforcement officers
Poster information
Posted on: Thursday 13 June 2019
Pedestrians in Bridgend County Borough are being warned not to be duped by a new scam that has hit local streets.
During the last couple of weeks there have been several reports of two men impersonating the 3GS litter enforcement officers who are working on behalf of Bridgend County Borough Council to keep local communities clean.
The scammers dress in black, just like the real enforcement officers, but are tricking residents by demanding instant cash payments of £150 for supposed littering offences. In some instances, the scammers have also phoned up residents demanding additional payments.
The genuine enforcement officers are employed to clamp down on irresponsible litterbugs. The officers always wear an official ID badge and lanyard, and will never ask for a cash payment for a fixed penalty notice. Instead, officers will issue a ticket stating details of the offence as well as payment options, which include an online, telephone and postal payment option.
Fixed penalty notices issued by the real enforcement officers will be £100.
Please watch out for this scam. We have received three reports in the space of two weeks of vulnerable people being caught out by these scammers who are impersonating our officers.
I’d like to make it clear that our official enforcement officers will never ask for cash up front for a fixed penalty notice, nor will they ever ask for your personal mobile number. We have been made aware of an instance where one local resident received a phone call requesting bank card details in order to pay a fine for dropping litter - it’s important to ensure that all residents know that we will never do this.
Our intention is to make Bridgend County Borough a cleaner place to live and work so it is a huge shame that there are people who are using this as an opportunity to trick others. I think this is also a chance to remind residents to avoid being in this situation altogether by not dropping any litter at all.
Councillor Hywel Williams, the council’s Deputy Leader