"Courier" fraud is a real issue at the
moment and has been for over a year now. Officers from Scotland Yard, Operation Sterling have issued this advice on how it is done.
The method used by these scammers is that the victim is cold called at home on their land line number. The scammer then either pretends to be the police or from the
victims bank. The scammer will say that there has been a compromise on their
account and that in order to investigate it and catch the suspects responsible
the card needs to be collected ASAP for forensic or other issues. They are then
asked for the pin number to the card which they may give verbally over the
telephone, these people are very convincing. Sometimes the victim is asked to key in the
pin number on their telephone keypad. A simple "App" called
"Blue Box" for example decodes the tone to the number keyed in. In addition to verify the fraud the victim is advised to
phone their bank or the police to confirm what they have just been told. This
is when of course the victim's line has been held open by the suspect who does
not hang up their end.
Once the
victim is convinced a "courier" is sent round to the victims
address to collect the card. The courier is more often than not an innocent cab
driver sent to collect from A to B or the suspects themselves.
Pass this on to as many people as possible - the only way to stop this is to catch these nasty criminals or prevent them from deceiving elderly people.
If you hear about a scam like this phone Fryent Safer Neighbourhood team or Operation Sterling at Scotland Yard.
And remember - NEVER GIVE YOUR PIN TO ANYONE
Fryent Councillors
No comments:
Post a Comment