Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards team has issued a number of warnings about new scams.

Fake missing person/pet posts

More and more scammers are posting on social media, claiming to be raising awareness of a missing person or a lost or found pet.

Fraudsters often share these posts in community Facebook groups and sometimes include captions which ask people to follow a link for more information.

These links lead to fake sites which have been designed to steal peoples' personal and financial details.

READ MORE: 'Missing' teen Hannah Green scam plagues Norfolk Facebook

A trading standards representative said: "Before sharing any post on social media take a good look at it - think: is the source genuine?

"Look at the original poster's profile - is it a new account? Do they have any friends listed? Is it just a single profile picture? Have the comments been disabled to prevent people highlighting they are fake?

"If you click on a link which takes you to a log in page, take a few extra seconds to check it is the genuine site. If you're not sure, don't enter any details."

WhatsApp messages from a 'family member'

People across Norfolk are continuing to report scammers who text or WhatsApp message their victims claiming to be a family member.

The messages usually begin with "hello Mum" or "hello Dad" and explain they are reaching out from an unknown number because they have lost or damaged their own phone.

READ MORE: Dental Surgery Hellesdon scamming people offering NHS slots

They will then ask for money to purchase a new one or claim they need money urgently to pay a bill.

The fraudsters then send details of the account they need the money to be paid into.

The quickest way to verify a message like this is to ask to speak with the sender over the phone.

Pension advice scam

Norfolk Trading Standards has reshared a warning from The Pensions Regulator about common pension scams. 

"Professional pension advice is not free," they warned.

"Pension review scams make you move your money into high-risk schemes which are badly run or completely fake.

"Early pension release scams offer to help you release cash from your pension before you’re 55 years old. This could pull your savings into schemes run by the scammers."

All authorised pension firms and advisers are listed on The Financial Conduct Authority’s register.

What do I do if I think someone is trying to scam me?

If you believe someone has tried to scam you with a fake telephone call, email or text, you can call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.

You can forward suspicious emails to the National Cyber Security Centre by forwarding them to report@phishing.gov.uk.