Spate In Telephone Scams

This message, again kindly provided by John in Blacon, resonates a bit more than others. The reason being, last Thursday I was made aware of a family friend who had almost fallen for a telephone scam. More on that below. First though, let’s read more about the recent spate in telephone scams message from Cheshire Police.

Spate In Telephone Scams

Here’s the latest Cheshire Police Alert on the recent spate in telephone scams. As ever folks, take note and spread the word wherever you can.

“Detectives are issuing an urgent warning to the public after a recent spate in telephone scams which have left Cheshire victims without thousands of pounds.

Organised Crime Groups (OCGs)

Officers are continuing to see cases of courier fraud. This scam is mainly committed by organised crime groups (OCGs). A member of the OCG, known as the ‘victim communicator’, makes a phone call to vulnerable victims telling them that they are a police officer or work at a bank.

They persuade the victim to co-operate with an ‘operation’ designed to gather evidence or identify offenders responsible for fictional offences. The victims are asked to withdraw money from their bank, purchase an expensive item and/or provide their bank details or card to assist with the operation. Money, items or documents are then handed over to the ‘courier’, who attends the address of the victim or meets them nearby. Normally on the promise that the money or item will be returned or compensation provided.

Cheshire Constabulary

Cheshire Constabulary are now urging others to be aware of these scams and alert vulnerable neighbours or family. Detective Sergeant Chris Jacques from Cheshire Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit said: “These fraudsters are extremely convincing and can be very persistent especially when targeting vulnerable victims.

“Police officers, banks and other such services will never ask you to withdraw money or provide card details. So please do not be taken in by these scams. “It is important to remember that telephone numbers can be easily spoofed and you should never trust a number displayed on your telephone.

“They may also attempt to ask victims to call back on 999, 101 or 161 to verify that they are genuine. But this is part of the scam and they keep the line open so that the victim continues to speak with the scammers believing that they are genuine officials.

“Anyone who is receiving calls asking for money to be withdrawn and handed over to a courier should call 101 or report it to Action Fraud.”

Cheshire Police Details

Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane said: “It is quite concerning that there have been more cases of fraud across Cheshire.

“Fraudsters will stop at nothing for their own criminal gain and I know that the force will continue to crackdown on the mindless scammers. Also the force will do everything in their power to bring them to justice.

“I am urging residents to continue to inform family and friends about these callous scams to ensure that no-one else falls victim.”

Anyone who believes they have been contacted fraudulently or have been a victim of fraud should call Cheshire Police on 101 and Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.”

Spate In Telephone Scams – Family Friend Nearly Caught Out

Yes, the recent spate in telephone scams almost caught a close family friend’s son last week. I’ll explain as briefly as I can.

This young man received a phone call (on his mobile I believe) from someone purporting to be from the police. They were very aggressive by all accounts and insistent that he owed a sum in excess of £3k to HMRC. He was advised to pay the money immediately. Otherwise he would be visited by a police officer.

By all accounts they kept him on the phone for the best part of an hour. Also they were very insistent and very threatening apparently. What was particularly freaky was that they directed him to an official looking website and, not only that, they had his National Insurance number. How did they get that?

To most people, let alone a young man in his 20’s, much of this would seem very convincing. It was very convincing to the young man. In fact, if he had the funds available himself then he would have paid the money over the phone. But, as he hadn’t the funds readily available, he contacted his mother in a panic asking if she could loan him the £3k+.

Luckily No Money Lost

It was at this point that his mother fortunately kept a calm head and immediately spotted a scam.

Rest assured, no money was paid over. And, as far as I am aware, contact has been made and the details provided to the relevant authorities.

In an effort to help, I sent a text with a link to my blog post on this subject from a few weeks ago. In case you haven’t seen it, you can have a read of it HERE. It is worth reading this post. As well as the specific advice from Cheshire Police, I’ve added my own comments regarding what I tend to do with phone calls from unknown sources.

Spate In Telephone Scams – Telephone Numbers

What puzzles me with these type of phone calls is how these scammers repeatedly manage to get phone numbers? Not mobile numbers of course as they can very easily get an endless supply of what they call ‘burner phones.’

But what about landlines? I must admit it’s been years since I applied for a new landline number. But, isn’t there a need to provide certain information to British Telecom for instance that can only be used once? Core data like, name, address, contact details and other individual information that will prevent someone repeatedly applying for a new phone number.

Surely someone applying for a new number will already have all previous numbers allocated to them registered against their core data? And if one of those previous numbers can be attributed to a scam then they don’t get a new number. Not only that, wouldn’t their details be circulated to the authorities once a scam number has been identified?

Yes, I realise there may well be more than one person running the scam. So maybe they spread the applications between them. Even so, you would think that there would be a limit to the number of landline numbers allocated to a scam team.

Mobile Phones

Maybe that’s why we are seeing more and more scam callers coming from mobile numbers.

Which brings me on to…….why aren’t mobile phones controlled more efficiently? I’m not that naive to not be aware of the need for a mobile phone company to make profits. So, the more phones they sell (particularly burner phones) the better for their profits.

But profits are not the most important issue here is it. Without getting too deep into this, a general question. Should there be better controls on the distribution of phones and phone numbers?

As useful as these scam alert messages are, they are a bit like “after the horse has bolted” really aren’t they. The problem is being tackled at the back end instead of the front end. How can this be rectified?

Spate In Telephone Scams

Unfortunately these type of scams seem to be accelerating in frequency. How do we slow them down? Or, better still, eliminate them for good? Any thoughts anyone?

We can do our bit by taking on board these messages. And, to repeat again, spread the word wherever we can.

Thanks for reading my latest ‘spate in telephone scams’ message. As I mentioned above, read it in conjunction with my previous post. Who knows, bit by bit we may just eradicate this type of scam in due course.

Finally, stay safe one and all.

Chester Crimewatch

Yet another worthy addition to my Chester Crimewatch category. Trust me, if you haven’t looked in there, there are loads of posts. Sadly enough, but at least we’re on the case so to speak.

To see all my other Chester Crimewatch posts, click HERE.

Chester Lifestyle Blog Posts

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