People are being warned against payment scam text messages bombarding people across Norfolk. 

Trading Standards said it had received numerous reports of messages spammed to mobile numbers hoping to trick people into clicking on a link which will take them to bogus versions of an organisation’s genuine website.

Officials warned the messages, which appear to be from companies including Lloyds bank, EE and Netflix, were an attempt to gather personal, login and financial details.

“The messages will often claim that accounts have been frozen, that money is about to leave the account, that payments can’t be made or that there is unusual or fraudulent activity with the aim of panicking the recipient into reacting,” warned Trading Standards.

People are being told not to reply, click on any links or open attachments or call any numbers given in the messages.

You can report suspicious or spam text messages to your network operator by forwarding the message for free to 7726.

If you think you might have responded to a text message scam and provided your bank account details, contact your bank immediately.