Farmers are targets in scams

With basic payments on going and farmers amidst a busy time, the message remains clear – remain vigilant and do not give out your bank details over the phone or online.

Members have been in touch to report calls from fraudsters in recent days, particularly in the Lothians and Borders area, claiming to be from Royal Bank of Scotland and stating the farmer had fraudulent activity on their account.

On one occasion the call even appeared to come from a genuine Royal Bank of Scotland number. When asked by the farmer to confirm their name and local branch, the caller became abusive and hung up. The farmer has since checked with his bank and they have confirmed this is indeed a scam.

NFU Scotland’s Finance Director Colin Gordon said: “Your bank will never phone or email you and ask for your online password information or any password using your online banking token or card and reader.

“The bank will never ask you to make a payment over the phone by using your online account.

The advice from Police Scotland is: Don’t give out any personal information unless you are the one who made the call and you are certain of the identity of the person you are speaking to; Don’t give out your credit card or bank card details to strangers on the telephone; NEVER tell somebody your bank PIN number, even if they claim to be the bank or police. If the caller is genuine they will never ask for this information; Don’t give out information which may infer that you live alone, are older or vulnerable; Never send money to anyone who claims to have a prize for you; If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.