Plea for vigilance in Wiltshire after £252k stolen through courier fraud
Over £28 million was stolen across the UK in the last 12 months
There's an urgent plea from the Police for us to be vigilant of courier fraud in Wiltshire.
Fresh evidence from Action Fraud has revealed over a quarter of a million pounds was stolen by this method in the county over the last 12 months.
Across the UK, fraudsters conned people out of £28.7 million, with an average loss per victim of a little of £20,000.
Elderly people in the 80s are most likely to be targeted, with 43% of victims in that age range.
Earlier this month, Police in Salisbury dealt with nine cases of courier fraud in six days - with further calls coming in on a daily basis.
We are encouraged to call 999 immediately if we, or someone we know, if being asked to withdraw money by the bank or the police.
Courier Fraud is where someone is contacted by a person posing as a police officer or bank official, and are tricked into handing over money, valuables or bank cards.
These are often collected from their home address, by a courier.
Criminals employ various tactics, one of the most common being that there's a problem with your account and they need your help to catch the 'real' criminals.
Victims may also be coerced into buying items such as gold and jewellery from legitimate retailers on behalf of criminals.
Detective Constable Fraud Protect Officer, Rachel Davies, explains: “We’re seeing consistent cases of courier fraud around the county in a variety of locations and unfortunately the victims are often the elderly. This is such a nasty crime which can have devastating psychological effects and significant financial loss.
“Many victims live alone and suffer age-related illnesses, so we’d like families, friends and neighbours to keep vigilant and help protect any vulnerable people in their lives. Fraudsters prey on elderly people by cold calling landlines or posing as police officers and bank officials. We need to get the message out we’d never cold call or ask anyone to share bank details or move assets to aid investigations or for any other reason.”
Banks or Police wont ask us for help
Marc Evans of Wiltshire Police Neighbourhood Policing Team, told Greatest Hits Radio we should be wary of anyone calling a landline phone unsolicited.
"Banks will never call and ask for anything from you. They will inform you via e-mail.
"The police will never call you and ask you to get involved in any sort of undercover work, nor will the Police pressure you to do anything. if the police do to come to your house to speak to you, it will be at your pace.
"They won't ask you to do anything against your will, and they won't force you to do anything."