Police warning after nine fraud incidents in city

Courier fraud was reported nine times in Salisbury over the space of six days, police said

A warning has been issued after nine reports of a scam involving people posing as police officers to commit fraud.

Wiltshire Police has received nine reports of Courier fraud in six days from residents in Salisbury.

The fraudster pretends to be from "The Flying Squad, The Met Police or from Bourne Hill Police station", officers said.

Anybody receiving calls of this nature is told to immediately hang up.

Fraudsters will often contact victims by phone, claiming to be a police officer or bank official, to say that money has been removed from their account by mistake.

The caller will then suggest that the victim withdraws a large amount of cash, which will then be picked up by a courier to "check for fingerprints or to identify counterfeit bank notes".

Alternatively, the victim may be asked to package cash up and send it by post to an address provided by the fraudster.

'Remain vigilant'

In the last six days, police have received nine reports of these types of incidents

Police are reminding the public that banks and police will never call and ask for personal details or PIN verifications.

Insp Tina Osborn, from the Salisbury Neighbourhood team said: “These fraudsters can be very persuasive and use a variety of tactics to convince you to withdraw cash, transfer money or hand over bank cards.

“It is really important people remain vigilant against these cold-hearted crimes. Bank accounts can be emptied in minutes and life savings lost.

"This places enormous stress on families and ruins people’s lives.”

"Victims are typically elderly, as in these cases, and we are asking anyone with an elderly relative, loved one, friend or associate to please make them aware of this type of scam.”

"We are seeing an increasing number of victims who have been emotionally manipulated to lower their defences," she added.

She also discussed a recent case where a fraudster targeted a 90-year-old woman in a phone call which lasted more than four hours.

Anybody who has given their bank details over the phone or handed their card to a courier is advised to cancel the card straight away.