Police and bank official impersonation fraud threat warning

There has been a recent rise in Police and bank official impersonation offences in the West Midlands region. Offenders will typically call elderly or vulnerable victims purporting to be law enforcement or bank officials. They will gain the victims trust and convince them to hand over bank cards, cash, or other valuable items to ‘couriers’ who will attend their home address or another agreed location. On occasion they will ask victims to post such items to another address.

Thankfully recent victims have reported matters early and without loss, allowing early intervention from police officers to prevent further offending and enabled us to recover money which we can return to victims of crime. But this positive work is not always possible and we want to work with partners and the public to safeguard vulnerable people in society and educate them about the risk.

Detective Inspector Jon Green from West Midlands Regional Economic Crime Unit added “Courier Fraud is a despicable offence where criminals target vulnerability in our society. They can be very convincing and by purporting to be in a position of trust, (usually a police officer or bank official), they target and deceive people. They will subsequently extort thousands of pounds, leaving victims emotionally, financially and psychologically affected. We advise the public to be suspicious of cold callers.

Our key messages are:

• The Police and your bank will never contact you asking you to withdraw cash or transfer money to secure your account.
• The Police and your bank will never contact you asking for your PIN, bank card, or secure banking information.
• The Police and your bank will never ask you to send cash or other expensive items via the post for safeguarding.

If you receive a call of this nature, hang up the phone, and use a separate phone to contact your local police force and bank.

We hope that by sharing information about this offending we can work with the public to protect themselves and others in your community.”

This work is part of Operation Target, our ongoing mission to target serious and organised crime across the West Midlands region.

If you think you’ve been a victim of courier fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040, or call West Midlands Police on 101.