Courier fraud attempts

Have you had a call from the bank or the Police suggesting you hand over your cash or card to a courier?

It’s a scam!

Experience shows that when offenders start calling here, attempting to steal from our residents, they hit us hard. We had two reports yesterday, one in Boston and one in the Wolds and we expect more….

Thankfully, in part due to local media and residents support for our awareness building, these two potential victims didn’t fall for it.

Please share this information with your friends, relatives and neighbours and in doing so, help others arm themselves with this knowledge so they don’t fall for it either.

Courier Fraud: What is it?

Courier fraud is when criminals call people impersonating banks or the police in order to convince them to hand over their cash, bank cards, or high value items, to a courier that’s been sent to their home. Recent reporting to Action Fraud has highlighted that an increasingly popular tactic is for criminals to instruct the unsuspecting victim to purchase high value items such as gold coins, watches and gold bullion. If anyone calls purporting to be the police or any other agency asking you to do such a thing, query why!

What you need to do

• 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 card by courier. Hang up, use a different phone if you have one (these criminals keep the line open whilst you dial, misleading you into thinking you are talking to your bank) and call your bank on a number you know to be genuine.
• Your bank or the police will not contact you out of the blue to participate in an investigation in which you need to withdraw money from your bank or to purchase high value goods, such as watches, gold coins, jewellery or gold bullion.
• Your bank will never send a courier to your home to collect your card, PIN, or other valuables; therefore any requests to do so are a scam.

If in doubt call the police on 101 and report the incident, if a courier is at your door call the police on 999