RESIDENTS are being warned not to give their credit or debit card details over the phone, following a number of scam calls contacting medical centre patients in the area trying to sell products.

A telephone caller claiming to be from Holsworthy Medical Centre contacted some patients last week appearing to know their medical condition. The caller then recommended a medical product for sale and requested credit or debit card details.

NHS England has confirmed it is a scam and issued notices to practices with advice.

Jane Wells, practice manager at Holsworthy Medical Centre, is urging anyone who receives similar calls to get in touch with the practice.

She said: “Some patients in our practice area have been receiving scam calls, where the caller appears to know their medical history. The caller then recommends buying a product and requests payment details.

“The calls absolutely aren’t being made by the practice and we wouldn’t ask for credit card details or any form of payment over the phone. If anyone receives a similar call or is concerned, call us at the medical centre.”

Launceston Medical Centre had been made aware of a similar scam.

Medical centre business manager Peter Harper said: “We have been made aware, by our NHS Local Area Team of a number of scams in the South West area but only had one reported to us by a patient.

“It appears that patients are being called by persons saying they are acting on behalf of the surgery and trying to sell them either electronic beds and chairs or herbal remedies, or trying to make an appointment at their home to make an assessment of their needs

“There have also been reports of the callers asking for credit card information.”

Mr Harper added: “Our advice to patients is obviously never give card details and try and get as much detail as possible from the caller so that you can pass it to us and we will inform the police and report to NHS.”

NHS England said it received two reports at the end of July from practices in North and East Cornwall of similar incidents.

A spokesperson said: “We have received two reports from two GP surgeries in the North and East of Cornwall regarding a company who had cold-called one of their patients, seemingly with the patient’s medical history. In the first incident the company allegedly claimed they had obtained this information from the patient’s GP surgery.

“The company are trying to sell electronic beds and chairs and pressurise the customer into agreeing to a sales appointment. This incident is similar to one reported in the Exeter area in March, but at that time it targeted patients with arthritis. A similar case involving two patients in the Exeter area has also been reported this week, following our alert. These again involved attempts to make sales appointments.”

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week’s edition of the Post.