Scam updates
Published: 23 March 2021
Courier Fraud
The Fraud Office are still seeing a number of offences each week and would like to remind people what to look out for and how to help protect family and friends from becoming victims.
Courier fraud involves criminals contacting victims and impersonating other types of professional people such as Police officers, Bank Staff or members of the National Crime Agency. They will often say that there is an issue with your bank account, payment card or National Insurance number. They will encourage you to help with an investigation and ask you to take monies out of your bank account or to hand over your card and PIN for a courier to collect.
One of the most popular at present is impersonating the NCA and stating that your National Insurance has been used in crime and you need to pay a fine to the NCA to avoid arrest etc.
It is all a scam, as a police officer, member of the NCA or other law enforcement type organisation, will never ask a member of the public to hand over money and never request banking details or a person’s national insurance number or send a courier to collect items. Fraudsters can go to great lengths to appear genuine and often target the elderly or people who they think are vulnerable. There are several precautions you can take which can help reduce your chances of falling victim to this type of offence. The Fraud office encourage everyone to take heed of the following advice and share it with friends and family.
• If you receive one of these calls end it immediately.
• Never hand over any money, or other items, to a courier after receiving this type of call.
• If you are not confident a person claiming to be a police officer is genuine, ask to take their details and end the call. A police call handler will be able to verify whether your caller was genuine.
• However, use another telephone or ring a family member or friend to ensure the line has been cleared or wait at least ten minutes before using your telephone in order to clear your
line from the scammer and report the matter to the police on 101, or 999 in an emergency.
• The matter can also be reported to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111