Image demonstrating Residents warned to beware of cold callers selling fish

Residents warned to beware of cold callers selling fish

Northumberland County Council’s Public Protection Service is warning residents of the dangers of dealing with doorstep callers selling fish, following a recent spate of incidents across the county.


A number of incidents have been reported to the Trading Standards team over the past few weeks involving fish sellers using aggressive sales tactics to sell fish door to door.  Purchasers may also find that the fish is poor quality, incorrectly labelled and overpriced.
 

The incidents have taken place in Bedlington, Blyth and Seaton Delaval and there are concerns they will be targeting vulnerable residents in other areas of the county.
 

Northumberland County Councillor John Riddle, Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing and Resilience said: 
“This is not a new scam, but we are concerned that the number of incidents in the area are again on the rise and that our vulnerable residents are most at risk. 
 

“ We know there are some genuine and established fish merchants in the county selling good quality fish in our local communities and we do not want to detract from their trade.  
 

“We are however asking residents to be vigilant and to be particularly wary of cold callers who turn up on their doorstep and who do not regularly operate in their area.  These scammers also tend to have white vans with no branding on and the vans have no, or poor, refrigeration.
 

Phil Soderquest, Head of Housing and Public Protection said:
“ Our primary concern is protecting vulnerable residents who are being targeted by these cold callers. We encourage all residents again to refuse to deal with all cold callers and to report incidents to us or the police to help us to build intelligence about these offenders and take action where appropriate.”
 

Residents can make reports to trading standards via 0345 600 6400 or by emailing: public.protection@northumberland.gov.uk or to the police on 101. In urgent cases, reports should be made to the police on 999.

 
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