Residents urged to check Sandwell Homes callers’ ID
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| Housing chiefs at Sandwell Homes are reiterating the safeguards they have in place to protect residents from potential bogus callers.The advice comes following a spate of distraction burglaries across the borough targeting five pensioners in a week.
In one of the reported incidents callers posed as officials from Sandwell Homes, the organisation which manages the borough’s 29,000 council homes. Repairs and maintenance director, Chris Poulton said: “The vast majority of visits we make are from our repairs teams and are by appointment only. We operate a system with a unique password known only to the tenant and our repairs operative, so anyone in doubt as to the validity of the caller can ask them to quote this password.” Mr Poulton added: “Any genuine caller from Sandwell Homes or one of our partner organisations also carries a photographic ID card with a contact telephone number on the reverse which can be called to check their identity. “The numbers are 0121 569 5242 during office hours and 0800 844112 at all other times. “We would rather our employee have to wait a few minutes while their ID is checked, if it ensures residents have peace of mind. “If they are in any doubt, they should refuse to let the caller in and contact the police |
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