Police have again asked residents to help spread the word, especially to the elderly, about a phone scam involving bogus police officers and bank workers calling up and persuading people to provide bank card details before sending ‘couriers’ to collect the cards.
A series of incidents have been reported across the police force area, including in Burnham-On-Sea, Weston, Bristol and Yeovil.
This week, a woman has reported having received a call from someone claiming to be from the Metropolitan Police’s fraud squad. She provided bank card information and gave the cards to a taxi that had been sent to collect them. Around £3,000 has since been withdrawn from her accounts.
Fraud investigator Barrie Douglas of Avon and Somerset Police’s Serious Crime Group, said: “We’re seeing two different types of offence at the moment: one where criminals are posing as Met police officers to persuade victims to withdraw large amounts of cash and hand it over to a ‘courier’, usually a taxi; and one where they’re pretending to be bank fraud officers who need victims’ bank card details, including their PINs, and who also send ‘couriers’ to collect the cards.”
“Our message to people is simple – if you’re on the receiving end of any of these sorts of phone calls, hang up and report the call to us on 101 but ensure you have a proper dialing tone on your phone or use a different phone.”
“Remember, no legitimate caller will ever ask you for banking details or PIN numbers. Likewise, they would never send a so-called ‘courier’ to collect bank cards or money.”
