Police are reminding residents to be vigilant following a series of courier frauds in Solihull.
WMP have been made aware of four reports of courier fraud since Thursday (18 June), particularly against the elderly or vulnerable. And on one occasion a woman in her 80s was conned out of thousands of pounds.
Courier fraud works by scammers calling and pretending to be police officers reporting suspicious activity on a bank account; they may claim to have arrested someone with a cloned bank card, that money has been taken, or cash in their account is counterfeit.
Some people fall for the scam because they believe the bogus PC’s story has been verified by a follow-up call to their bank – but because the scammers don’t hang up the victim is unwittingly still speaking to them and not a bank official.
It is reported the bogus callers claimed to be from Paddington Police, claiming they were investigating banks handing over counterfeit money. Two of the victims hung up and called the police, and a third was flagged to us by the bank after the victim tried to withdraw a large sum of money, however their scam was successful when one elderly woman handed over thousands of pounds to a man who collected the money from her house.
Police officers or genuine bank officials would never ask you to divulge PIN numbers over the phone or send couriers round to collect cards or cash.
If you receive a call requesting this, hang up and contact police – but check for an open line or ideally call from a different phone.