Bogus officials claim to be police in Telford
Residents in Telford are reminded to be on their guard to bogus officials claiming to be police officers.
It follows three reports this week where a man has contacted members of the public claiming to be a police officer investigating fraud on their bank account.
The conman informs the victims their bank account is at risk and in order to protect the account from fraudsters they need to withdraw their money, the man then offers to send a courier to collect the money and bank cards.
In one case the bogus official encouraged the victim to invest a large sum of money, he was told if he didn't he would be served with a High Court summons.
Detective Sergeant Andy Dawson said: "Unfortunately, these fraudsters can be very convincing and give the victim no reason to believe they are not genuine. However, there is absolutely no circumstances where police would ask someone to withdraw their money from their bank account, and anyone receiving a call like this, or a call where it is the bank itself asking for the money withdrawn, should be aware this is scam.
"We're carrying out enquiries to trace the fraudsters and would urge anyone who does receive a call to put the phone down straight away. There are occasions where the fraudster will not end the call completely so when you go to make another call it connects back to them so our advice would also be to ring someone whose voice you recognise to double check the call hasn't been compromised."
To report bogus officials to police ring 101 or visit https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ to report a scam to the national fraud and cyber-crime reporting centre.
