Jenny and Geoff, 45 and 46, have always been careful with money. They have two children and live reasonably comfortably. So they were extremely worried and surprised to receive a phone call from a man purporting to be an Essex Police officer.
He told the couple that thieves had targeted their bank account and were trying to withdraw large sums of cash.
The bogus police officer told them they would need to give him all of their bank details – account numbers, sort codes and PINs – so he could stop the thieves. He also told them that he would send a courier to pick up all of their
The bogus police officer told them they would need to give him all of their bank details
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credit and debit cards in order to stop the crooks.
Jenny and Geoff were worried, they could not afford to lose thousands of pounds. So, they told the man everything he wanted to know. A few hours later, when a courier arrived, the couple also handed over all of their bank cards.
They took a phone number for the man and said they would ring him the next day to get an update. The next day they received a call from their various bank and credit cards providers, advising them that thousands of pounds had been spent or withdrawn. The couple told them what the so-called police officer had said and they were advised to call Essex Police.
The number the man had given them was dead and he had disappeared without a trace and so had all of their cards.
Police, with the help of the banks, were able to track down the bogus police officer and the courier who had collected the couple’s cards. The pair were prosecuted in court. Both had been involved in similar fraud cases before and received a custodial sentence.