Derbyshire Constabulary have seen an increase of scam calls from fake police officers asking people to give money to couriers for a hoax investigation.
Fraud Protect Officer at the constabulary Tammy Barnes said:
“These callers pretend to be investigating a crime involving the victims’ card or bank account.
“They then ask for money transfers, or even for cash withdrawals or bank cards to be given to a courier, to ‘assist with the investigation.’ Which the police will never do.”
“We also know that these fraudsters can target geographical areas where they know elderly or vulnerable people live, so please spread this message far and wide.”
The cold callers will give a fake name - potentially one of these:
DI Cameron
DS Cooper
DC Matthew Phillips
PC Smith
Another warning sign is that the fake officer says not to share any details of the call with anyone as it risks jeopardising the police investigation, this is to apply pressure to the victim to comply and not ask for help.
It’s also important to note on previous occasions the caller has asked the victim to call 999 to verify their claims but instead remains on the line to complete the scam.
The police will never contact you to request banking information or ask for funds to aid an investigation.
They went on to say that they are currently seeing a high number of these calls in Shirebrook, which sits on the Nottinghamshire border towards the north-east of the county.
They stressed that if you receive a call like this, hang up and contact them to report it as soon as possible. By doing this they can then assess where it is targeted, alert banks and prevent other scams:
If you wish to phone the constabulary to report it, wait five minutes after ending the scam call and make sure you hear a dial tone before calling 101.
You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Reporting
Report all Fraud and Cybercrime to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online. Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. Report SMS scams by forwarding the original message to 7726 (spells SPAM on the keypad).
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