ACTION Fraud have issued an alert to warn people about courier fraud and bogus police officers and bank officials.
They say the con artists might say that there has been fraudulent activity at the victims’ bank and the staff at the bank are involved.
The victim is then asked to withdraw money to either keep it safe or assist the police with their investigation.
Or they might say a business such as a jewellers or currency exchange is fraudulent and they require the victim’s assistance to help secure evidence by buying jewellery or exchanging a large amount of currency to hand over to the police.
Or they might claim that the victim’s bank card has been compromised and used to purchase goods by a suspect.
The victim is requested to withdraw their money to keep it safe or hand over their bank card to the police.
Action Fraud also says that occasionally the victim will be told to dial a non-emergency extension of ‘161’ to receive confirmation of the individual’s bogus identity.
The bogus official will advise the victim to lie about the reason for the withdrawal or purchase if challenged by staff, as the staff member is involved in the fraud.
A courier attends the victim’s home address to collect the goods the same day.
Often the victim is given a code word for the courier as a way of authentication.
Action Fraud says your bank or the police will never:
Phone and ask you for your PIN or full banking password
Ask you to withdraw money to hand over to them for safe-keeping
Ask you to transfer money out of your account
Send someone to your home to collect cash, PINs, cards to cheque books
To report a possible fraud, or for more information on current fraud/scams, visit the Action Fraud website at www.actionfraud.police.uk
