Businesses with alcohol licences in Sandwell are being warned about a new scam.<\/p>\n
Sandwell Council is asking all Premises Licence Holders to be alert to fraudsters calling them and claiming to be a licensing officer asking for payment of their annual fee.<\/p>\n
A recent incident involved a man calling a Sandwell business owner, asking for an immediate payment of a licensing fee via bank account over the phone. The call was a scam.<\/p>\n
Sandwell Council\u2019s Deputy Leader and cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community Councillor Suzanne Hartwell said: \u201cLuckily the gentleman who received the scam phone call was suspicious, and he got in touch with our licensing team to check if it was a genuine call, which it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would urge all licensed premises owners to be cautious.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe licensing team do send reminder letters to Premises Licence Holders and licensed premises reminding them the annual fee is due.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team also sometimes call premises to remind them these fees are due, but they do not ask for bank account details. The team send online payment links from a sandwell.gov.uk email address.\u201d<\/p>\n
If any Premises Licence Holders receive a phone call asking for a payment, they can check it is a genuine call by emailing the team at \u00a0licensing_team@sandwell.gov.uk<\/a><\/p>\n