Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Since September there have been around 20 incidents of people, in particular elderly people, being called by bogus police officers and bank officials asking them to transfer funds or withdraw cash for collection.

Detective Inspector Jenni Brain said: “Thankfully in the majority of cases the victims haven’t fallen for the fraudsters convincing stories.
“These people often target the elderly or vulnerable resulting in the loss of thousands of pounds.
“It’s important to remember that police officers and bank officials will never ask you to withdraw or transfer money or hand over private banking details.
“We ask that friends, relatives and neighbours of elderly people help us spread this message to prevent anyone else falling victim to these crimes.”

Advice to prevent you becoming a victim of bogus calls:

• Hang up if you ever have any doubts about someone who has called you.
• Ensure the line has been terminated before making any further calls. You can tell if the dial tone is present or by using another phone.
• Never give out your PIN number, banks will never ask you for it.
• Never give bank cards to anyone at your door, even if they say they’re from the bank.

If you believe you are a victim of this scam, contact police on 101 or report online www.cambs.police.uk/report

Examples of incidents:
Mr G received an email claiming his TV licence payment hadn’t been received and was asked to call to sort it out which he did.
A few days later he received a call from Barclays Fraud Team questioning large payments he had supposedly made.
He was told it had all stemmed from the TV licence email and he’d been scammed. They closed his bank account over the phone and he was asked to transfer £60,000.
Mr G was told a detective from Scotland Yard would meet him at his bank in the coming days.
When Mr G and his wife arrived, the bank knew nothing of an appointment and told him there was no such thing as a Fraud Team.
Thankfully after speaking to the bank, Action Fraud and the police, Mr G was able to get his money back.

Mrs B received a call from an officer at Charing Cross Police Station who claimed he had a woman under investigation for money laundering.
The officer was able to confirm Mrs B’s card details and knew how much money was in her account.
He sent her off to her local bank to withdraw money and then to shops where she had store cards to withdraw Euros. He asked her to make note of how the staff reacted, what they were wearing and told her not to touch some of the bank notes so they could be finger print tested.
Later in the day a man collected the money from her home.
She was contacted a few days later and asked to withdraw more money. She couldn’t get to the bank so sent it electronically and was told her new card would arrive and all the funds returned but they never were.
Mrs B handed over around £12,000 of which about £8,000 she is unlikely to get back.