Please be vigilant and aware of various scams around at the present time.
1 Wiper blade scam
This is a disgraceful story, particularly as the victim is elderly. The event happened in Papantoniou's carpark at Chlorakas but there have been reports over the last few months of incidents at other supermarkets in Paphos.
The victim returned to his car to find two men standing alongside it. He was told that his wiper blades were dangerous and needed changing. The victim advised that his wiper blades were perfectly serviceable. Ignoring his wishes and protests, the scammers replaced the wiper blades with ones of their own and demanded €60 in payment. The victim refused to pay and requested that his own blades be reinstated. Two other men then joined the first two and insisted on payment. When he said that he could not afford €60 they reduced their demand to €40. As he felt threatened payment of €40 was made.
It is thought that the men were of Eastern European origin. If you are on your own and notice two men hanging around your car or appearing to follow you, please return to the shop and ask the staff to phone the Police. The Police are aware of this scam but usually by the time they attend, the offenders have gone.
2 Internet/email scams
There are various ones circulating at the present time:
- you need to click on the link to reinstate your email address as it is about to be cancelled
-DHL have attempted to deliver a parcel to you - often there is an attachment, which, if clicked, will infect your computer with a virus
-you need to pay Bitcoins otherwise it will be revealed to your entire address book that you have been viewing porn or similar sites
Internet/email scams can be reported to the Police via
https://cybercrime.police.gov.cy/police/CyberCrime.nsf/subscribe_gr/subscribe_gr?OpenForm
