Scammers use Facebook to target fish and chip shop and its customers
26/02/2021
Popular chippy doing all it can to warn customers about fake Facebook account pretending to be them
A Banbury Chip Shop owner is appealing for people to beware of scammers after a fake Facebook account pretending to be his business started contacting people asking for their bank details.
George Xiourouas has run the Grimsbury Fish Bar on the Middleton Road for 40 years. He has been offering a prize of free fish and chips on a Friday as part of a Facebook competition.
Yesterday Mr Xiourouas was contacted by some of his customers who had been messaged via Facebook telling them they had won a prize, but asking them to submit their bank details. The messages appeared to come from the Grimsbury Fish Bar but were actually from a fake account, created by scammers.
Mr Xiourouas said: “A woman rang me and said ‘I gave them my bank details’. I said why did you do that? We would never ask you to do something like that – ever.
“We tried to do something to make people happy. But there are some people out there – these scammers – they try to destroy people’s businesses. Hundreds of people were ringing me saying ‘did I win’?”.
Mr Xiourouas’ family have been contacting people and telling them not to respond to the messages. The Grimsbury Fish Bar has now deleted its own Facebook page and is doing all it can to protect its customers.
Mr Xiourouas said: “My son and my wife were working yesterday from half past three when it started until 12am messaging people.
“My wife was crying yesterday, because we were trying to do something nice and then these guys tried to break everything.”
Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards team have told Banbury FM that anyone concerned about a fraud or scam should report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or through their website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a scam should contact the National Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133 or visit their website at: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/
Victims should also contact their bank as soon as possible.
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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