Elderly man scammed out of £15,000 in Salisbury

Wiltshire Police is asking us to be aware of courier fraud

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 22nd Feb 2023

A man in his 80s from the Salisbury area has been scammed out of £15,000 during a courier fraud incident.

The victim received phone calls on the 20th, 21st and 24th of January, asking him to withdraw a large amount of money.

He was told it was needed to help with an investigation in relation to his bank account.

A man then went to his home address and collected the cash.

Wiltshire Police say they're carrying out enquiries and want to hear from anyone who might have seen a suspicious car in the Winterbourne Gunner area on the evenings of the above dates.

If you can help with any information, you're asked to call 101, quoting reference number 54230009641.

A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said:

“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.

“On this occasion, the fraudster claimed to be an officer from the Metropolitan Police and told the man his card had been compromised. He told the man to withdraw money to help with the investigation.

“These individuals are very convincing and have various different tactics to gain your trust.”

Advice from police

A series of tips have been issued by Wiltshire Police, of things to watch out for in similar cases:

  • Your bank and the police will never ring and ask you to verify your PIN, withdraw cash or purchase high-value goods. They’ll also never come to your home to collect your card, cash or purchased items. If you get a call like this, end the call
  • If you get a call from your bank or the police, make sure you know who the person is before handing over any personal details. You can do this by calling your bank (the number on the back of your card) or the police (101) on a different phone line
  • To get a different line, use a phone owned by a family member, friend or neighbour. This is because scammers can keep phone lines open after pretending to hang up. So while you think you’re making a new phone call, the line is still open to the scammer, who pretends to be someone from your bank or the police
  • Depending on your bank, the security questions they ask may be different, but they’ll never ask you to authorise anything by entering your PIN into your phone
  • Never send money abroad to a person you've never met or to anyone you don’t actually know and trust
  • Likewise, never agree to keep your online relationship a secret. This is a ploy to get you not to tell your family and friends, who’ll see the scam for exactly what it is

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