Police in Bath are again asking everyone to help spread the word, especially to the elderly, about a phone scam involving bogus police officers.
The phone scams also involve bogus bank workers with the scammers calling up and persuading people to provide bank card details before sending ‘couriers’ to collect the cards.
There have been six calls recently to people in the Bath and North East Somerset area that police are now investigating.
All the calls are from someone claiming to be from the Metropolitan Police’s fraud squad.
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.”
