We have been made aware that fraudsters are targeting the areas of Croydon, Bromley & Sutton, particularly using the technique of Courier Fraud.
What is Courier Fraud?
Courier fraud is a crime in which the criminal attends the home address of the victim to collect various things of value.
The criminal usually targets the victim’s debit cards, credit cards, cash and/or jewelry. Alternatively, criminals will often look to obtain any personal information they can from their target that they can use for further criminal activity.
The criminal often calls ahead and introduces themselves to the victim to convince them there is some sort of ‘problem’ which the victim can avert by giving over the aforementioned goods.
How do these criminals operate?
Most courier frauds usually begin with an unexpected phone call. The suspect will usually claim to be from one of the aforementioned professions. The phone call will normally concerns one of two scenarios:
Criminal Investigations – This will usually take the shape of a police officer telling their target that they are investigating some form of crime committed by bank staff, potentially staff trying to steal funds from the victims account.
Alternatively, this could take the shape of accusing the target of money laundering and requiring access to their account for proof of their innocence.
If someone calls you claiming to be a police officer, ask for their name and a warrant number. Hang up, call 101 on a different phone if you were called on a landline and check with the operator.
If a police officer attends your home, ask for their warrant card and check the back of it – a legitimate warrant card will have a hologram which is difficult for criminals to replicate.
Security Breach – This normally concerns criminals masquerading as bank staff, informing their target that their funds in their account are insecure and a third party is attempting to access them.
If the bank truly believe a customers account is being accessed by someone else, they will immediately lock the account. They do not need any personal information, or permission to do this.
Banks do not send members of their staff to go to your house to collect your cards/cash. Police do not offer this service, either.
How do I Protect Myself?
- Do not give out any information – Do not tell the individual anything about yourself or your passwords.
- Put down the phone – Do not engage further
- Call your bank on a number you know – Check the back of the card. If you received a call on your landline, call on a different phone. Criminals will often remain on a landline phone – they will not hang up and disconnect the call, so use a different phone to call your bank.
- Report the matter to police/Actionfraud. Use the ActionFraud website to contact them and report the fraud.
To protect vulnerable members of your family, TrueCall Secure Call Blocker has various levels of protection against receiving unwanted calls.
- Unlimited control for blocking incoming calls
- Can also block certain outgoing calls
- Can be setup to record all incoming telephone calls
- Control every aspect of the unit remotely using the web app, including listening to voicemails
Designed for older customers, it protects from nuisance and scam calls immediately.
If you have lost money/personal information
- Do not panic
- Inform your bank
- Contact police/actionfraud
- Cancel cards if necessary
Stop! Think Fraud is a new national campaign against fraud and has been developed by the Home Office, National Crime Agency (NCA), National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and in consultation with a wide range of other partners and external stakeholders.
It supports the delivery of the Fraud Strategy with a multi-channelled campaign aiming to increase the likelihood that people will take action and adopt behaviours that will prevent them falling victim to fraud.
Fraudsters aren’t fussy. They’ll pick on anyone.
Find out more at gov.uk/stopthinkfraud
The Little Media Series – A collection of books and videos created by the Metropolitan Police to explain some of the most common types of fraud and gives advice on how to avoid becoming a victim. https://www.met.police.uk/littlemedia/
