Warning of new sophisticated police scam making rounds in North Yorkshire
Over 20 reports of the bogus calls have been made to North Yorkshire Police in January
Police in North Yorkshire have warned anyone can fall victim to a new scam where fraudsters pretend to be officers.
In January so far, 22 reports have been made of a fake DCI Nelson telling residents their accounts have been compromised and that they need to transfer their savings to a safe account.
The caller will often give a 'police' reference number and advise that the victim can call 999 to check this is genuine, however they do not clear the line, so even if the victim hangs up and dials 999 from the same phone, they will still be on the line to the scammer and they then pretend to be a different police employee.
The victim is then advised to visit the bank and withdraw money from their account which will be collected for 'safekeeping'.
Other fake police names given include; PC or DC Mark Andrews, Sgt White or Sgt Wickes.
Financial Abuse Safeguarding Officer, Andy Fox, said:
"No one would ever say that the victims of these frauds are ignorant or stupid or careless in anyway, because it is scripted so well, it is manipulated so well. And of course, when the victim dials 999 and and it's answered with 'Yes, I'm putting you through now' it gives that authenticity that you are dealing with the police and people generally are complying with instructions police officers will give them and if they think they're helping in a police investigation and the police have instructed them to do this then they will do it.
"Criminals talk to each other and pass on data with each other. So for example, if they find that a fraud works or a particular script that they use works, they will pass it on between each other and similarly if they have a name and address of a victim who who has fallen fraud to them, they will pass it onto other criminal gangs.
"We had a victim who had been groomed for over a year by this DCI Nelson and they have lost nearly half a million pounds to these fraudsters. But we don't believe it is the same person, we believe it is several gangs passing on details and using the same script because they know it works."
Anyone who receives a call similar to the scenarios describe is being urged to hang up and contact North Yorkshire Police.