Fake Police calls

‘Please make the elderly and vulnerable aware of scams’ – plea from officer after fraudulent calls in county
Suffolk police are again urging residents to be cautious and aware of fraudulent calls reporting suspicious activity on their bank accounts and are appealing for residents to share crime prevention messages with elderly and vulnerable family members, friends and neighbours. Between 28 and 29 January Suffolk Constabulary have received at least seven reports of residents in the county receiving calls, supposedly from a Suffolk or Norfolk police officer, reporting fraudulent activity on their bank accounts and urging them to withdraw substantial quantities of cash and bank cards to hand over to a courier. Courier fraud is when a fraudster calls on victims purporting to be a police officer and convinces them that you are required to hand over money or bank cards for a police investigation to a courier who will collect it on behalf of the police. The victims were from various areas including Woodbridge, Framlingham, Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, and in some cases, victims were given police officers’ names and collar numbers to legitimise the request. Detective Sergeant Jamie Adams, of Suffolk Constabulary’s Fraud Assessment Unit said: “These are crimes done by the absolute worst in society, preying on the vulnerable, the elderly, and those that trust services such as police and banks the most. The fraudsters contact them directly with key information, pretending to be officers, giving believable names, ranks, stations and collar numbers. This isn’t just vulnerable people; the victims we have seen are knowledgeable people but those responsible are professionals, they know what to say and are very convincing, preying on peoples fears of this very thing, of being conned out of their hard-earned money. Please share this important advice with your friends, your family and your neighbours and make sure they know what to do if contacted. Police would never call you and ask you to withdraw money to be collected by an officer nor would they ask you to transfer money into a different bank account. If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of the call please contact Suffolk police, ideally via another phone line or other method, to verify the details of the officer provided in the call. If you have elderly or vulnerable neighbours, friends or family, I would ask you to inform them of this guidance and to check with someone they trust if contacted in a similar manner.”
For more details about checking police officers’ identities, please visit: www.suffolk.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/fa/how-to-check-an-officers-identity/
If an officer needs to speak to you on the phone, they'll identify themselves clearly.
A police officer should never:
- ask you for your bank details or PIN
- ask you to transfer funds to another account
- ask you to hand over cash or bank cards to a courier
- ask you to pay a fine or a fee to them or a third party over the phone or online
- ask you for access to your computer, passwords or log on details over the phone or online
- ask you to register personal details in an attachment or website online
- ask you to 'assist' in an investigation by doing any of the above
- state that you are committing a crime by not complying
- communicate in an abusive, threatening or coercive manner