In this issue of the SCAM Email Alert we are going to look at Impersonation and Courier Scams. This scam involves fraudsters contacting you, usually by phone, claiming to be from the Police or your Bank’s fraud department. They will spin you a believable story and try to get you to put your credit / debit cards, cash or valuables in an envelope and hand them to a courier or taxi driver who will call for it shortly.
Now, that may sound unbelievable, you would never do that, but can you be sure? These people are experts in psychology and will use various social engineering methods and techniques to make you or your loved one believe that their elaborate story is true.
- They use authority by claiming they are the police or bank’s fraud department.
- They will pressure you into making a quick, one-off decision to part with your cash.
- The call will be unsolicited, usually at an inconvenient time, maybe around teatime.
- They will use fear and tell you that your money is at risk unless you act immediately.
- They will fire a lot of questions at you and if you ask a question, they will answer it with another question to confuse.
- They do not want you to put the breaks on and speak to anyone else.
Courier and impersonation fraud is currently the highest reported fraud in West Sussex. 91% of victims are aged 60+, 75% are aged 75+. 64% of victims are female and 63% live alone.
There are several variations of this scam.
The fraudster may claim to be from the Police and tell you that they have two people in custody who have been using cloned versions of your bank debit card. They may get you to verify the cloned cards by giving them the PIN number or security number on the back of the card. Or they may say that they are investigating a corrupt employee at the bank who has supplied the criminals they have in custody with your details and they want you to help the police investigation and go to the bank and draw out cash, or transfer money to another account. They may get you to verify some of the serial numbers on the cash drawn and confirm to you that the notes are fake, but you will be told not to worry, they were suspecting this and your account will be credited with the value of the counterfeit cash. They will then get you to package up the cash, cards or both to be collected by a taxi driver or courier shortly. To spin the story even further, you may be told the cash or cards are being taken to Scotland Yard, perhaps to aid in the investigation. Often the person who collects your package knows nothing about the scam, or instead of getting you to collect cash, they may ask you to purchase a high value item such as a watch.
The fraudster may claim to be from your Bank’s Fraud Department and say they have spotted some large payments that have been authorised on your card. When you confirm that the payments are not genuine, they may take you through security to verify your identity before they can stop the payments, but in doing so you are giving the fraudster your PIN number or security details. They will then say they have cancelled your card and a new one will arrive within a few days, but you must return your old card to the bank. But, to save you the trouble, they will have a courier collect your card within the hour.
There are many examples of impersonation scams using organisations such as the Amazon, HMRC, the People’s Lottery or Solicitors claiming you are owed tax, wrongly deducted from PPI pay-outs. Saga have also confirmed that they have had a data breach recently exposing some customer details including partial credit card numbers. Fraudsters have been using these stolen details and impersonating Saga employees in an attempt to get further personal information.
Follow these tips to avoid becoming a victim of impersonation scams.
The Bank or the Police will never get you to withdraw or transfer money, and will never ask you for your PIN or Password.
Call the police, bank or other organisation back on a known number, but make sure the fraudster has cleared the line before you call. You can contact your bank’s fraud department directly using a special number that has been set up by the banks – 159.
Avoid sharing personal information over the phone and never disclose your PIN number.
Never hand over your bank card, cash or valuables to a taxi driver, courier or anyone you don’t know.
Do not transfer money on instructions of a caller, even if they do say they are from the police or bank.
Say NO to cold callers. If your telephone service provider has a call screening service, you should use it, or purchase a True Call Secure Call Screening device.
Make sure that friends, relatives, and neighbours are aware of this type of scam and how to avoid them, particularly the vulnerable, elderly or those who live alone as sadly, these are the most common victims of this type of crime.
Remember the A,B,C – Assume nothing , Believe nobody and Check everything
Take 5 to Stop Fraud – STOP | CHALLENGE | PROTECT
There are a number of ways you can report a scam:
· Forwarding suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk
· Forward suspicious texts to Ofcom on 7726
· Contact Action Fraud by visiting actionfraud.police.uk or calling 0300 123 2040
· Contact Crimestoppers by visiting crimestoppers-uk.org
If you believe that you have become a victim of an online scam and would like some help, contact Victim Support by visiting victimsupport.org.uk
———————————————-
Getsafeonline.org has lots of advice about online safety at
https://www.getsafeonline.org
They also have a handy tool to check out whether a website is likely to be legitimate or fraudulent, at https://www.getsafeonline.org/checkawebsite/
———————————————-
If you would like to receive more information about scams into your email box, you can sign up to the National Action Fraud Alert scheme run by the City of London Police.
https://www.actionfraudalert.co.uk/
Or, you can sign up for Which? Scam Alerts …
https://act.which.co.uk/page/103781/data/1
Or sign up to West Sussex County Staying Safe Online E-newsletter …
https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/fire-emergencies-and-crime/crime-prevention/staying-safe-online/
Article by Liam Dasey. Liam is one of our volunteer Digital Champions, but he is also a volunteer Digital Ambassador for West Sussex County Council and Get Safe Online, helping raise awareness about online safety in the community.
