KENILWORTH’S SAFER NEIGHBOURHOOD TEAM are warning Kenilworth residents to be alert and to look after elderly or vulnerable relatives, friends or neighbours. The advice from Warwickshire Police comes following a “Courier Scam” was foiled at the last minute due to the quick thinking and action of a relative of a householder.
The attempt, which happened in the last couple of days at Kenilworth, Warwickshire, nearly led to the householder losing tens of thousands of pounds from their savings bank account.
The scam starts with a telephone caller saying they are from Amazon. The caller says that Amazon has mistakenly transferred a significant sum of money into the householders bank account and that it needs to be paid back promptly. The caller then decides which way is best to try and get the householder to pay the money over.
In this case the caller asked the householder to make out a cheque for the bogus amount and they would arrange for a courier to pick it up. The householder made out the cheque and as the courier arrived so did a relative of the householder. The relative immediately called the police, stopped the cheque being handed over and the courier made off.
A Kenilworth Watch spokesperson said “People need to understand that in some cases those calling unsuspecting householders may already have some information about the person they are calling. This makes things sound all the more plausible to the person receiving the call and makes it easier for the criminal carrying out the scam.”
The key things we’d stress are:
No organisation, banks, police, Royal Mail, building societies, the NHS or HMRC send couriers to anyone’s home and door.
Any call received where money is mentioned by someone suggesting they are from an organisation and the householder is not expecting such a call is almost certainly bogus and a scam.
DO NOT SAY OR DIVULGE any of your personal details to anyone on the telephone or on your doorstep and NEVER share your PIN number.
Anyone that requests a householder to go to their bank and draw out the money is bogus and they are a criminal. DON’T attend your bank to draw out money whatever anyone tells you.
Please look out for those that may be elderly or vulnerable and make sure they know not to engage with these type of calls. Please report any such calls and requests to Warwickshire Police on 101.
Kenilworth Watch 