Police warning over scam debt firm MCO Capital Finance

Police in Shropshire today issued a warning about a company which is attempting to scam unwitting residents out of more than £500.

The alert followed complaints by a string of Shropshire residents who received letters demanding money from a loan company calling itself MCO Capital Finance.

The outfit, which also uses the name Help Loan, demands repayment of a £513 loan supposedly taken out by the victim.

It even threatens to send in bailiffs if the money is not paid into a bank account number given on the letters.

Telford police spokesman Chris Ammonds said: "We believe this is a scam. Whoever is behind the MCO Capital Finance and Help Loan demands is trying to obtain money from people which they simply do not owe."

A number of people around the country are known to have answered the demands and paid up but Mr Ammonds said, fortunately, no-one in the Telford & Wrekin area had been duped as far as he was aware.

He added: "We had two complaints from residents yesterday and one about a week before that.

"In all cases the approach had been the same with a letter from either MCO or Help Loan demanding £513 for a non-existent loan.

"I would urge residents to be on their guard about such letters and report them to the police and also to the Government agency Action Fraud."

One target of the scam who saw through it and did not pay up was Tony Fielding from Newport.

He said: "I had a letter two weeks ago demanding repayment of a loan of £513 I simply had not taken out.

"I sensed it was a scam almost immediately because it demanded payment of the whole sum in one go and loans are invariably paid in instalments.

"I got another letter last Thursday saying I had not paid and so was being charged a further £213 fee and threatening to instruct bailiffs to recover the money.

"I saw through it but I fear there could be other people, particularly the elderly, who will be so worried by it they pay up."

Action Fraud has been deluged with calls from people worried by demands for money from MCO Capital.

Anyone who is a victim of the scam is urged to contact Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.org.uk or on 0300 123 2040. Call Telford police on 0300 333 3000.

By Simon Hardy