Resort pensioner caught out by ‘pay later’ scam

Southport residents are being urged to beware of a new scam which police chiefs have labelled, ‘Buy now and pay later.’

A spokesperson for the Sefton Community Policing Team said: “A fraudster orders an expensive item without payment via the buy and pay later system. The parcel is delivered to a named person at an address including the postcode, given to the company by the fraudster.

The parcel is delivered and opened by the innocent resident who was surprised to receive an item that they have not ordered.

Later an accomplice calls at the property where the parcel had been delivered and states he has come to collect his parcel, that has been delivered to the resident by mistake.

This is a national scam but a couple of years ago an 85 year old Southport resident received an expensive mobile phone which was collected by a ‘courier’ who stated the parcel had been labelled with the wrong address. A week later the bills started arriving and then the final demand notice including the debt and credit warning notice.