A message from West Midlands Police
We need to make you aware of an incident so that you can protect yourself against fraud.
We were called to Barclays Bank, Dudley last week where an elderly female customer told us she had been receiving numerous phone calls from an unknown man who claimed to be a police officer from the Met Police and that her bank account had been involved in suspicious, fraudulent, activity and would be blocked.
The man had requested her address, phone number and bank account details which unfortunately she provided. He phoned a taxi on more than one occasion to the woman’s address to pick her up and take her to the local post office and bank where he requested she make withdrawals of large sums of money whilst keeping her mobile phone on so he could hear any conversation taking place.
Fortunately bank staff declined any of the withdrawals and alerted us, and we are investigating the matter further.
This is a very disturbing and distressing matter and one which needs to be shared so please, DO NOT give out any personal or bank account details to anyone who has called you as any reputable organisation will not ask for them.
Also if you know of any elderly, vulnerable neighbours, friends or family members please check in on them and see if they have had any similar phone calls. Please call 101 to report anything suspicious. You can also visit our website for further crime prevention advice here – Fraud and online crime | Your Options | West Midlands Police (west-midlands.police.uk)
Message Sent By
Richard Gwynne (Police, ECO, DY)