Fraudsters have conned a Margate pensioner out of thousands of pounds by posing as police.
The woman received a call instructing her that she needed to withdraw thousands of pounds from her bank account to assist in a police investigation into fraud.
The conman remained on the line while she went to the bank. When the victim, aged in her 70s, confirmed she had withdrawn the money, a courier collected it from her in the Hartsdown Road area.
The collection, by a man described as in his 20s and with a tanned complexion, was made at around 3pm on Monday 4 December.
Anyone with information regarding this report should contact Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting 46/214124/23.
Officers also received a further nine reports from residents in Margate, Ramsgate and Westgate on Tuesday 5 December, who had each been contacted by someone posing as a police officer and who gave a similar story.
In some cases residents were falsely told their bank cards had been cloned and used in supermarkets. Fortunately all residents became suspicious and ended their calls before any money was stolen.
Inspector Jim Woodward of Thanet Community Safety Unit said: “A police officer will never ask you for money so always treat such calls with suspicion and never agree to their request.
“Also be alert to anyone claiming to be calling from your bank who asks you to transfer funds.
“Take their details and then end the call. It is recommended to wait five minutes or more after ending the call to ensure fraudsters have not kept your line open. Use another phone if you have one.
“These fraudsters will try and alarm you into trusting them. Make the time to speak to family or friends, before agreeing to anything.
“The scams can be sophisticated and confusing, so do not be embarrassed to ask for help. If you think you have been targeted by a fraudster, report to Kent Police.”
You can also contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or report suspicious activity online by visiting their website.
The matter can also be reported to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 or by using the online form.
The banks should question why is someone withdrawing a large amount of money. It could be asked discreetly by just two 2 questions 1. Did you expect to be withdrawing this amount of money today? 2. Has someone asked you to withdraw it.
If they answer no to question 1 and yes to question 2. It should ring alarm bells.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
Yes, but people might also want to ask why the police would be phoning you up to demand you empty your bank account as part of a fraud investigation & hand it over to some random person, or send it to an address.
These scams have been publicised endlessly in the media-including on BBC Scam Interceptors for decades. We also have to remember that these scammers as part of the ruse often tell the person that their bank is in on the fraud-so they need to lie to them, when asked questions the bank will ask to protect them.
Ultimately people need to stop & think-these vermin succeed by panicking & bullying people into making immediate decisions/actions that make no logical sense.
A friend of mine showed me a cheque book . She had visited her dad in southern Ireland. 3 cheque stubs 1 for 77k. 1 for 21 k and 1 for 18k. All cash withdrawals . Christie was 83 and BLIND so who took this blind man into the bank and withdraw over 100k euros in one day.Why did the bank hand this money over.
How many times have you been called by someone pretending to be from amazon . And there always Indian speaking.
Recent calls I’ve had have had a most decidedly British voice.
You have had scam calls,then ,in British language ,this is newsworthy
They usually say they are Dave from London, yet are clearly from the subcontinent & can barely form sentences in Butler English. You would think their scriptwriters would actually just use names from that region than British ones, as it is an immediate red flag.
Almost every scam caller (to me) has an Indian accent, with ‘office’ background noise which gives the game away.
Oooh,a bit racist!🤣I am surprised the vanilla progressives haven’t jumped on this,yet.
A ‘tanned complexion’ on December 6th could be labelled as racist, but what’s a racist? Anything the accuser wants it to be!
People are still falling for the “I am a policeman and want you to withdraw money for a fraud investigation”scam.Just like”your account has been compromised and you need to move into a new,designated account”scam.These are older than Joanna Lumley!When will these people learn.
I can’t transfer £40 from my account,without having it frozen and having to call fraud dept,to unlock it.
That is an old scam and you wouldn’t think anyone hasn’t heard about it by now.
Why didn’t the bank staff question the lady why she wanted so much out in one go. They could have told her she was being scammed and called the police to protect her? What bank was it?