Courier fraud

Courier frauds are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated. Usually the elderly are targeted. Scammers will telephone a potential victim purporting to be from their bank, from the police, or other law enforcement. They then dupe the person into revealing their pin and handing over their debit or credit card.

• What you should know.
  1. A scammer rings you pretending to be from your bank or the police, saying that a fraudulent payment has been spotted on your card and this needs resolving, or that someone has been arrested using your details and cards.
  2. You may be asked to ring back, using the phone number on the back of your card. This further convinces you that the call is genuine. However, the scammer keeps the line open at their end so, when you make the call, you are unknowingly connected back to them or their friends.
  3. They will ask you for your PIN number or sometimes ask you to key it into your phone’s handset. YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE YOUR PIN TO ANYONE IN ANY WAY.
  4. The scammer then sends a courier or taxi to pick up your card from your home. It is possible that the driver does not know that they are being used as part of the scam.
  5. Once they have your card and PIN, the scammer can then spend your money.
  6. There are now many variations to this scam. One of these is where you are contacted and told there is a corrupt member of staff within your bank, a Post Office or Bureau the Change and the police need your help to identify them.
  7. You may be asked to withdraw a large sum of your money, with the purpose of the money being marked by the police or bank to be placed back into the banking system. They say this will help them identify the corrupt person. On handing the cash over it is taken by the scammers.
  8. Another variation is being asked to purchase an expensive watch or other high-value item, to try and identify counterfeit goods. You will then be told to hand this item to a taxi driver for transfer to the police. The item is then handed to the scammer.
  9. This latest variation is where you are informed your bank account has been taken over and you need to transfer all the funds into a ‘safe account’, set up by the caller. This account is operated by the scammer who then steal the funds.
• REMEMBER
  Your bank or the police will never ask for your PIN, your bank card or to withdraw money.
• CAUTION
  NEVER share your PIN with anyone – the only times you should use your PIN is at a cash machine or when you use a shop’s chip and pin machine.
• THINK
  Never hand over your bank card or any goods you have purchased as a result of a phone call to anyone who comes to your front door.
• INVESTIGATE
  If you think you have been the victim of this scam, call police.