Worcester woman is latest victim of courier fraud - The Worcester Observer

Worcester woman is latest victim of courier fraud

Worcester Editorial 26th May, 2016 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

A WORCESTER woman has become the latest victim of courier fraud in the county.

The 82-year-old handed over cash and her mobile phone to fraudsters yesterday (Wednesday) after she received a phone call from someone claiming to be a police officer from London.

This was one of five incidents reported after potential victims in Droitwich, Wychbold and Pershore realised it was a scam, hung up and contacted police.

The fraud follows an incident last week in the Evesham area where a woman, also 82, took a call from a man claiming to be from the Scotland Yard fraud squad saying that her bank account had been compromised.




He convinced her to remove an amount of money from her account and put it in a brown paper bag with her bank card which would be collected by a courier.

Shortly afterwards a man, believed to have been in his early twenties and wearing a black hooded top, arrived to collect the money, quoting a reference number she had been given.


This was repeated over the next five days until the woman went to the bank for a loan and staff questioned her.

Police advise people that banks will never ask for you PIN, send a courier to collect your card or ask you to leave cash in a public place.

If you get a suspicious call hang up and phone the police on 101, using a different phone.

West Mercia Police continues to investigate these offences under Operation Ardent and is working with banks to ensure that elderly and vulnerable people are not withdrawing their life savings and handing them over to fraudsters.

 

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