Don’t fall for health and safety scam

Mike Wasinski, a partner at the Manchester office of national accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, is warning businesses to ignore letters and faxes from scam operators purporting to be from the Health and Safety Registration Enforcement Division.

The official-looking letter from a Bradford address demands payment of either £199 or £249 for registering the recipient with ‘The Health and Safety Compliance Register’. It implies that they could face a two-year jail sentence and fines of up to £13,000 for failing to act.

Wasinski said: “Trading Standards issued a warning about these scam operators back in May 2004. They seemed to disappear for a while but now it looks like they’re back preying on unsuspecting businesses. This is a bare faced rip-off, designed to hoodwink business people into sending money to the operators.

“Someone is lining their pockets at the expense of the gullible by pure deception. Tear-up the letter and warn your staff or anyone else who receives one to do the same.”