Households have been urged to be vigilant of a scam currently doing the rounds in which fraudsters claim to be able to tackle mould problems.
Trading Standards said that it has received reports of cold-callers targeting deprived areas, offering 'free' surveys to check for mould before pressuring householders into paying 'admin fees' of between £50 and £250. However, the fraudsters then failed to return to carry out the work they promised to do, leaving people out of pocket and with no way to contact them to get their money back.
In other cases, the scammers have charged households excessive sums amounting to thousands of pounds for unnecessary 'mould-proofing' work, including installing spray foam insulation. The work was found to be of such poor quality that in some cases it ended up affecting a property's mortgage-ability.
