Bracknell Councillor Reports Attempted Telephone Scam
Bracknell Councillor Mary Temperton has told the Public Protection Partnership about a recent telephone banking courier scam, in the hope that her story will raise awareness of these types of scams and stop others becoming a victim.
In Mary’s own words:
“I am sharing my recent experience to alert people to this scam and to raise awareness of the elaborate and convincing methods groups of criminals are using to con people in our community. I share the names and details as they were given to me, but please be aware these are not the real details of the people I was talking to, they were very convincing criminals pretending to be people we’d trust.
“I was first telephoned on my landline by Detective Sergeant Cooper from Bradford Police, shoulder number 3451. He told me they had arrested Derek Temperton who lived at my home address and was my full-time carer. I said all this was a lie and I did not know anyone called Derek Temperton.
“I was given a crime number and advised to phone the local police fraud department, which I did. (1)
“A very empathetic lady immediately answered and asked why I was phoning. She looked up the Bradford crime number. She advised me to call the bank but told me she could help to connect me to their fraud department, all I had to do was phone the number on the back of the credit card.(2) (3)
“I did as advised and immediately spoke with a pleasant young man who said there was a warning against my current account. (4)
“I was then phoned by Superintendent Thomas Bird from New Scotland Yard who told me he investigated fraud on behalf of all banks. He asked if I was prepared to assist him. (5) I was agreed. He said my bank account had been accessed 23 times in the last month with attempts to withdraw money, with three attempts to send different amounts to a bank in Nigeria.
“He then spent the next half hour telling me of fraudulent practices experienced by old people in the area, who had all lost considerable sums of money when accessing their account at the bank in Bracknell High Street. He said this was an ongoing investigation and they needed someone to go into the bank and transfer money into a given account, so they could identify the suspected employee and arrest them.
“I agreed to assist the Superintendent and that my cover story would be that I was transferring money to help my daughter-in-law. I was instructed to go to the bank and transfer money to details of an account they gave me. I was told to insist no one had asked me to go to the bank and transfer this money and to always maintain my cover.
“The Superintendent told me to leave my mobile phone on, so he could listen in. I was told to park as near the bank as possible and if I got a parking fine, not to worry, the police would pay this. This sounded the alarm. Why would the police tell me to commit an offence? I asked why I could not do this the next day, once the police have visited and given me assurance this was genuine. The Superintendent insisted the police could only come once an arrest had been made.
“I was told if I did not really want to go through with this, he understood, but this was a chance to stop older people being abused. He tried to reassure me that this could not be a scam because I had phoned the police myself and I had contacted the bank myself. This reminded me that I had phoned 191 not 101 and that the lady had kept the phone open so I could phone the bank fraud department directly. I had not called the bank on my own, I decided not to go through with it.
“I phoned my bank, thankful that I had realised it was a scam and that I had not actually shared any personal data. I then reported the incident to Action Fraud.
“On reflection and in hindsight, things I should have done which we should do in such a situation:
- I should have phoned Bradford Police and checked the details I was given
- I should have phoned 101 (not 191 as I was told) as this is the known non-emergency police number
- I believed the calls had ended, but on a landline if the person placing the call does not end it, the line remains open; this enabled the criminals to transfer me to each other, while I thought I was phoning different numbers and talking to different people.
- Police numbers are rarely answered straight away- it took me 55 minutes to get through to 101 to report the scam
- A police caution would never be issued like this.
Courier fraud
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.
Protect yourself
- Your bank or the police will never call you to ask you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone or offer to pick up your card by courier. Hang up if you get a call like this.
- If you need to call your bank back to check, wait five minutes; fraudsters may stay on the line after you hang up. Alternatively, use a different line altogether to call your bank.
Spot the signs
- Someone claiming to be from your bank or local police force calls you to tell you about fraudulent activity but is asking you for personal information or even your PIN to verify who you are.
- They’re offering you to call back so you can be sure they’re genuine, but when you try to return the call there’s no dial tone.
Report a scam
You can report scams to:
The Citizens Advice Consumer Service
Online via their online reporting form
Telephone: 03454 04 05 06
(All these reports are forwarded to Trading Standards)
Action Fraud, the UK national fraud office
Online via their online fraud reporting tool
Telephone: 0300 123 2040
