Telephone fraud: More than 300 targeted in bogus police officer scam

Telephone fraudsters posed as police officers to target older people on more than 300 occasions this year, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has said.

Victims handed over money or valuables 36 times, with a total of £135,000 in cash and jewellery worth £15,000 stolen.

Ten people have been arrested and seven charged over the scams.

Police are warning older people and their families to be vigilant.

According to Action Fraud, which records scam figures for the whole of the UK, people in Northern Ireland lost almost £22m to a number of scams last year alone.

These are only the frauds reported to this organisation, the figure may be higher.

Police say there have been 308 reports of the bogus police officer scam since January.

At a press conference on Tuesday, PSNI Det Ch Insp Ian Wilson said if people were called in this way they should immediately hang up.

Det Ch Insp Ian Wilson said police will never phone to ask about personal finances or valuables

He said the scammers engaged householders in conversation which develops into asking whether they keep cash or other valuables in their house.

"The scammers will then tell them that they have information that in the very near future they are going to be the victim of a crime, such as a burglary or a fraud," he said.

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Mr Wilson said the scammers would offer to take possession of cash and valuables in order to keep them safe.

"If that is agreed to, they will ask the householder to put those valuables and cash into an envelope and set it somewhere - very often under the front doorstep," he said.

The envelope would be collected and its contents stolen.

"The police will not phone you up and ask anything about your personal finances, whether you have cash or other valuables in your house and they certainly will not ask to take that into their possession for safekeeping," he said.

'I was really convinced he was an officer'

A 95-year-old-man, who wished to remain anonymous to protect his security, told the BBC's Newsline programme he came close to falling victim to the scam.

He said he answered his landline to a man with a "very assertive, very authoritative, very convincing voice", who said he was a police officer.

The caller said he had been "retained by a public institution" to investigate hacking on the man's bank account as someone had been using his details to purchase goods.

He proceeded to ask if the man kept money or valuables in his house and enquired about his home security.

He told the man he would be sending plain-clothed officers to his house but not to tell friends or family as it could compromise the investigation.

"I was really convinced he was an officer," the elderly man said.

But after hanging up, he began to question the authenticity and motives of the caller and decided to contact police.

"If I'd really fallen for the thing and said 'yes I've got a few thousand pounds in the house' they would have been up a day or two later and that would have been that," he said.

Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland Eddie Lynch said the scam was a "major concern".

"Unfortunately, we do know that older people can be more trusting and less willing to put the phone down and that is why it is important to get this message out that you will never be asked to hand out money or bank details by police," he said.

"If in doubt, just put the phone down."