National: People are urged not to be fall foul of police telephone scam

A recording of a telephone conversation between a criminal and his victim has been released to the public by Dorset Police to make people aware of how fraudsters are trying to con the elderly out of thousands of pounds.

A 68-year-old woman from Dorset recorded a telephone call she had received from someone pretending to be a policeman.

She was told her account had been compromised and she needed to call 999 to ensure the call was genuine. In fact, the caller was a criminal, and he was going to keep the line open and then ask for her bank details so he and his accomplice could steal her money.

The victim realised there was something amiss and rang her son who advised her not to hand over or transfer any money.

Use the following link to view the footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lDvlZvwZj8

Unfortunately, since March, there have been over a hundred reports of these bogus police offices calling mostly elderly people in the Humberside policing area, particularly in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Following the incidents police are urging members of the public never to give out bank or personal details to strangers over the phone, withdraw money and give it to a stranger or transfer funds to unknown accounts.

Finally, police would never ask for a member of the public to transfer or hand over money as the victim of fraud.

If people are called as part of this scam they should where possible make a note of key details of the call, including the number the bogus caller has rung from before calling Humberside Police on 101.