How to spot a police impersonation scam
Tali writes about scams and consumer rights for Which? delving into fraud, technology and consumer rights topics to keep readers safe and empowered.
Scammers are posing as police officers to convince victims into handing over money and personal details, Which? warns.
Typically, you will be cold called and told that a fraud case is being investigated, that a relative is in custody or that someone has your bank card and ID.
The scammer will spin an elaborate story that will ultimately ask for a large sum of money to be given to them.
The scam aims to get you to hand over cash either physically or digitally, by transferring it from your account, to people pretending to be police officers. You will be told that this is part of the investigation process.
Read on to find out how to keep you and your loved ones safe from this scam.
Police impersonation scams
A police impersonation scam in Wolverhampton saw criminals impersonating police officers by asking for cash to be placed in an envelope for a police officer to collect.
The police recently announced that five men had been arrested in relation to this scam, with a total of £10,000 stolen from multiple victims.
South Yorkshire police also issued recent warnings of similar impersonation scams. The cold callers in these scams say that someone you know is in police custody, someone has found your passport or they've tried to get your bank details. Recipients reported the caller going on to talk about cryptocurrency.
Someone targeted by this scam described on the social media forum Reddit how they were transferred between several different people after being told that they'd been the victim of a data breach. They were given a fake case number before being advised to transfer their money to a safe account to avoid it being stolen.
4 tips to avoid cold call scams
- Never disclose financial information over the phone. Some cold calls are random attempts to trick victims into handing over sensitive information; others use details already known about you – such as your name or address – to sound more convincing.
- Always be suspicious of a call probing for information, especially if the caller asks for money.
- Police officers will never make unsolicited calls to ask you for personal or financial information. They’ll also never ask you to transfer money into an account, hand over cash or bank cards to a courier, or pay a fine or fee over the phone.
- Register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to stop legitimate companies from making unsolicited sales and marketing calls to you. So when you receive a call like this, you'll know a scammer is on the other end of the line. You could also consider installing a call blocker for nuisance calls.
Reporting phone scams
To report a scam call received on your iPhone, text the word ‘call’ followed by the phone number to 7726. On an Android phone, text the word ‘call’ to 7726, and you’ll then receive a message asking you for the scam number.
WhatsApp scam calls can be reported by opening the WhatsApp chat with the dodgy phone number and tapping 'block'. You can report the contact by tapping 'report contact' and 'block'.
If you've been scammed, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Report Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you live in Scotland.
