Beware phone calls from bogus bank employees and police

This is a widespread and continuing fraud risk in the UK and this article is interesting as it provides some figures.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jun/14/bank-scam-savings-courier-fraud?

14 June 2014

It starts with a phone call from someone pretending to be from your bank, and can end with the loss of £40,000 or more. It's one of the most sophisticated bank frauds police have seen – one that targets older women in well-off areas. The banks know it is going on but are refusing to reimburse victims. So why have there been so few warnings about this scam?

This month, City of London police revealed that 2,556 courier fraud offences were reported to the Metropolitan police between April 2013 and March 2014. This is a nationwide problem: since February, Greater Manchester police has recorded 346 offences, while in one of the cases investigated by Devon and Cornwall police, the victim lost £40,000.

My own concern is where the fraudsters are getting contact details from. The elderly will be most vulnerable to this type of fraud and it seems that the fraudsters know more than just the victims' phone number, and simply running down a phone book is not likely to be very successful.

Victims should consider what details the caller knew about their account when reporting the crime to the police in case there is any evidence that the information may have come from the bank. This may make a difference to any claim for a refund of the victim's money.