72-year-old man conned out of nearly £6,000 in courier scam

Police have issued a renewed appeal for residents to be wary of telephone callers asking for their bank details – after a 72-year-old man was conned out of nearly £6,000 on Thursday, 15 September.

A male pretending to be from a bank telephoned the resident at his home in Woodcote Road, Wallington, during the early afternoon to explain that they were having problems with bank cards being cloned – and that they would need to collect old bank cards and issue new ones.

During the conversation, the victim revealed his personal and bank information. Arrangements were made to collect the cards.
A short while later at around 16:00hrs a female courier arrived to pick up his three cards. When she arrived, the resident mentioned that he had some money in a savings account. She suggested that he should withdraw this money and she would put it in a higher interest account for him.

At 17:00hrs he went to his bank and withdrew £3,100. He returned home and the cash was collected by another female courier.

He later found out that his cards had been used to make withdrawals totalling £2,800.

The first of the two female suspects is described as white, aged 30-40, of slim build and had missing front teeth. She spoke with a British accent. The second caller is described as white, aged 35-40, with long brown hair. She was wearing a brown spotted dress. If you have any information, contact Sutton Police station on 101. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police advise residents not to reveal their bank details or PIN to anyone including their bank. Banks will already have these details and will never ask for your old card back.

If you are called by someone who asks for these, hang up and use a different line to report the call to police on 101 or allow at least five minutes for the line to automatically clear.

Also don’t give your bank cards to strangers whatever reason they may give you to part with them. Such requests are likely to be a scam to steal your money.

This scam, which is known as the bank courier scam, was being widely reported to police across London during 2013-14 – with 34 reported offences in Sutton during this period. After a police-led campaign to raise awareness of the scam, the number of reports greatly reduced. However, police in Sutton are starting to see a rise in the number of these offences and detectives are urging the public to keep up their guard.

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