Courier Frauds

Bracknell Councillor Mary Temperton obviously does not receive our RBWM Thames Valley Alert messages – or she would have recognised the signs of a Courier Fraud immediately !!!! It just shows – we must pass on our knowledge to everyone we know ! Particularly those who do not get these messages.

COURIER FRAUDS ARE HAPPENING EVERY DAY AND NOT ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE ELDERLY AND VULNERABLE

Bracknell Councillor Reports Attempted Telephone Scam

Bracknell Councillor Mary Temperton, has told the Public Protection Partnership about a recent telephone banking courier scam, in the hope that her story will raise awareness of these types of scams and stop others becoming a victim.

In Mary’s own words:

“I am sharing my recent experience, to alert people to this scam and to raise awareness of the elaborate and convincing methods, groups of criminals are using, to con people in our community. I share the names and details as they were given to me, but please be aware, these were not the real details of the people I was talking to. They were very convincing criminals, pretending to be people we’d trust.

“I was first telephoned on my landline by Detective Sergeant Cooper from Bradford Police, shoulder number 3451. He told me they had arrested a ‘Derek Temperton’ who lived at my home address and was my full-time carer. I told him, all this was a lie, as I did not know anyone called ‘Derek Temperton’ !

“I was then given a crime reference number and advised to phone the local police fraud department on 191, which I did. (1)

“A very empathetic lady immediately answered, who asked why I was phoning. She looked up the Bradford crime reference number and advised me to call my bank immediately. If I wanted, she could connect me to their fraud department, all I would have to do is enter the phone number on the back of my card. To save time, I agreed. (2) (3)

“I did this and the phone was answered immediately. I spoke with a pleasant young man, who said there was a ‘warning against my current account’. (4)

“A few minutes later, I received a call from someone claiming to be ‘Superintendent Thomas Bird’, from New Scotland Yard. He told me that he investigated all the fraud cases, on behalf of all the banks. He asked if I was prepared to assist him (5) and I said I would. He said h could see that my bank account, had been accessed 23 times in the last month. These included attempts to withdraw money and three attempts to transfer different amounts, to a bank in Nigeria.

“He then spent half an hour, telling me about fraudulent practices experienced by old people in my area. Apparently, they had all lost considerable sums of money from their accounts, held at a branch in Bracknell High Street. He went on to say that there was an ongoing investigation of that bank and branch, but they needed someone assist them and go into the bank and transfer money into a given safe police account. That way, they would be able to identify the suspected employee and arrest them.

“I agreed to assist the Superintendent. He outlined a cover story for me, in case they invoked the Banking Protocol for an unusual transfer on cash. If I was asked, I was to say that I was transferring the money, to help my daughter-in-law.

He instructed me to go to the bank as soon as possible and transfer the money into the account he had given me. I was told to insist, no one had asked me to do this and all times, to maintain my cover and the cover story.

“The Superintendent told me to leave my mobile phone on during my journey to the bank and also while I was inside, so that he could listen in and monitor the conversations. He told me to park as near the bank as possible. If I got a parking ticket, I was not to worry, the police would pay it for me.

This began to sound alarm bells. Why would the police tell me to commit an offence ?

I asked why I had to do this immediately ? Could it not wait until the next day, once the police have visited and reassured me that this was all genuine. The Superintendent insisted, the police could only come to see me, once an arrest had been made.

“He then added that if I did not want to go through with this, he would understand, but this was a chance to stop older people, from being abused an scammed. He tried to reassure me that this was not a scam, because I had phoned the police myself and also - I had contacted the bank.

This reminded me that I had dialled 191 not 101 and that the lady had kept the phone open, so I could phone the bank fraud department directly. I had not in fact, actually, called the bank myself.

I then decided not to go through with it.

“I phoned my bank, thankful that I had realised it was a scam and that I had not actually shared any personal data. I then reported the incident to Action Fraud.

What I should have done:-
I should have phoned Bradford Police and checked the details I was given
I should have phoned 101 (not 191 as I was told) as this is the known non-emergency police number
I believed the calls had ended, but on a land line if the person placing the call does not end it, the line remains open; this enabled the criminals to transfer me to each other, while I thought I was phoning different numbers and talking to different people.
Police numbers are rarely answered straight away- it took me 55 minutes to get through to 101 to report the scam
The police would never do this.
Courier Fraud
Courier fraud occurs when a fraudster contacts victims by telephone purporting to be a police officer or bank official. To substantiate this claim, the caller might be able to confirm some easily obtainable basic details about the victim such as their full name and address.

The caller may also offer a telephone number for the victim to telephone or ask the victim to call the number on the back of their bank card to check that they are genuine. In these circumstances, either the number offered will not be genuine or, where a genuine number is suggested, the fraudster will stay on the line and pass the victim to a different individual.

Protect yourself
Your bank or the police will never call you to ask you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone or offer to pick up your card by courier. Hang up if you get a call like this.

If you need to call your bank back to check, wait five minutes – or preferably use another phone; fraudsters may stay on the line after you hang up. Try phoning a friend. If you cannot get trough, the line has been held open.

Spot the signs
Someone claiming to be from your bank or local police force calls you to tell you about fraudulent activity but is asking you for personal information or even your PIN to verify who you are.

They’re offering you to call back so you can be sure they’re genuine, but when you try to return the call there’s no dial tone.

Report a scam - You can report scams to:

The Citizens Advice Consumer Service
Online via their online reporting form
Telephone: 03454 04 05 06
(All these reports are forwarded to Trading Standards)
Action Fraud, the UK national fraud office
Online via their online fraud reporting tool

IF THE COUNCILLOR HAD LIVED IN RBWM AND RECEIVED OUR THAMES VALLEY ALERT MESSAGES - SHE WOULD HAVE PUT THE PHONE DOWN, 2 OR 3 SECONDS AFTER HEARING THE FIRST SUPPOSED POLICE OFFICER !!!!