Grantham residents targeted by courier fraudsters

Police received two reports of attempted courier fraud yesterday (25th August) in the Grantham area and we are urging residents to remain vigilant against this type of scam.

At around 2:15pm, a woman in her 60s from the Great Gonerby area was contacted by a scammer posing as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Phillip Hunt. He informed her that her nephew was in custody and was in possession of a number of cards and that one of them belonged to her. The victim was told to contact her bank to cancel her card and was advised to go to Grantham Police Station at 5:15pm.

Thankfully the victim ignored this request and no money or personal information was given to the fraudsters.

At 4pm, a woman in her 70s from the Gonerby Hill Foot area received a phone call from a fraudster purporting to be DCI Hunter from Hammersmith Station. The fraudster informed her that someone in custody had the victim’s cloned cards and that she needed to go on hold so she could be put through a secure line. The victim ended the call and no personal information or money was lost.

Grantham Inspector Gary Stewart said: “We are aware that fraudsters are posing as alleged police officers and are targeting residents in Grantham.

“If you receive a phone call from an alleged police officer asking you to cancel your bank cards, please do not carry this out as it is a scam. Alternatively, if you receive a call from an alleged police officer asking you to transfer money to a safe account to help with an ongoing fraud investigation, please hang up immediately as this is also a scam.

“Thankfully no-one fell victim to the fraudster’s attempts and there was no money or information lost. Remember, police officers will never ask you to share personal or financial information via a text message or email. If you’re ever in doubt, hang up and contact your local policing team.”

If you have been a victim of fraud

If you think you may have been a victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online or call 0300 123 2040.

Report suspicious text messages by forwarding them to 7726. For suspicious emails, report it by forwarding it to report@phishing.gov.uk.

For further crime advice, please visit  Fraud and scams page on the website.