POLICE have issued a warning to the regions business after a “card not present” fraud resulted in two local businesses almost losing thousands of pounds of goods.

North Yorkshire police say the fraud involves an individual, usually with a southern accent, calling a business and claiming she is organising a charity day or wedding but has been let down by local suppliers.

Read more: Jewellery box recovered after being stolen in burglary – does it belong to you?

The individual then orders large quantities of products which are paid for by credit card and they will often use multiple credit cards to pay.

They then ask that a local taxi firm collect the goods and soon after a firm will be sent to collect the goods and transport them to an address, usually in Southend-on-Sea.

According to police, the scammers are using stolen credit card details so once the credit card’s owner realises what has happened, their credit card provider will issue a charge back notice to the business.

The money is then withdrawn from the business’ account leaving them out of pocket and with thousands of pounds of products.

Yesterday (Tuesday November 9), a North Yorkshire taxi firm alerted police to one of these scams in action and as a result were able to save over £4,000 worth of beauty products from being stolen.

The force says that in October another taxi firm contacted police to let them know they were transporting £3,000 of golfing equipment, police were again able to stop this and return the items.

Read more: LNER urge passengers to avoid travel between London and York until tomorrow

Kevin Ross, of North Yorkshire Police’s economic crime unit, said: “These thieves will steal anything but are particularly fond of high end beauty product, golfing equipment and clothing, and fresh butchers meat.

“We’d like to thank the two taxi companies who spotted this was happening and saved the local businesses from losing their stock but we know this is likely to have been happening to hard-working businesses across the county with nothing reported to police.

“We are urging businesses to please be vigilant. Please ask yourself why anybody would pay for a taxi to transport goods to Essex when they could easily buy the items they want locally, if they were a legitimate customer.

“Know your customer and check everything you are told. Speak to your credit card provider. If in doubt, don’t make the sale. Dozens of businesses in North Yorkshire and elsewhere wish they hadn’t.

Read more: Chance to buy regional convenience store and house on the market for £275k

“If you think you have been a victim of this scam or any other type of fraud, call 101 to report this to North Yorkshire Police.”

-------

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated North Yorkshire Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054