TRADING Standards on the Isle of Wight are advising people who use Facebook to be wary of requests for money from 'friends'.

Scammers are both unused and current Facebook accounts and messaging all of the friends on the account with a believable story asking for money in an emergency.

The scam involves payment through PayPal and if people are the victim of one of these scams they will not be able to get their money back.

Anyone who receives a request for financial help in this way contact your friend via text or phone to check if this is valid. Trading Standards also suggest that you report it online to Action Fraud https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

In a separate warning, residents are receiving cold calls offering to renew their TV warranties from a number identified as 01903 924518.

Some of the residents they are calling have old televisions or no television at all so trading standards would like to remind residents that if they don’t know the number that is calling them not to answer it and any unsolicited or uninvited contact is likely to be a scam so hang up straight away.