Scammers are attempting to cheat older and vulnerable victims out of cash and high value items through courier fraud.
Courier fraud is when victims receive a phone call from a criminal who is pretending to be a police officer or bank official.
In common cases, victims are told to withdraw a sum of money and someone is sent to their home address to collect it.
Another common tactic used is where victims are contacted by a suspect who attempts to persuade them to purchase gold as part of a ‘police investigation’.
The gold is then collected by a courier on behalf of the criminals.
Some criminals also convince victims to transfer money to a ‘secure’ bank account, hand over bank cards or give the criminals high value items.
64% of victims since the beginning of this year were aged 70 to 89 years old.
How to stay protected:
- Your bank or the police will never call you to ask you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone, or offer to pick up your bank card by courier. Hang up immediately if you receive a call like this.
- When calling a bank to check if a call was legitimate, wait five minutes as fraudsters may stay on the line after you hang up.
If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online at actionfraud.police.uk.
Alternatively, you can report it by calling 0300 123 2040.
You can find out more here.
