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Police warning after elderly residents are targeted
Police are warning people to remain vigilant after fraudsters targeted elderly victims in Exeter and Mid Devon with telephone scams.
Officers have urged householders to never provide any personal details if contacted by strangers following a pair of separate incidents on Tuesday 19 November.
A Mid Devon resident, living close to the Somerset border and Wellington, received a phone call from a person purporting to be from his banks who stated he needed new cards. They asked for card and PIN numbers – and even rang back later to say he had given them the wrong information. The elderly man later received two personal visits from a pair of males claiming to be from the bank, who told him they needed to take his cards away and that they would return with new ones. During one visit, the suspects handed over a gift voucher.Cards were taken from the victim and later that day £300 was withdrawn from a cash machine in Wellington.
A separate incident on the same day saw a female pensioner in Exeter contacted over the phone and asked to put £10,000 into the bank account of an unknown suspect. She was told the fraud squad would visit her home at a later date.
Devon and Cornwall Police is advising residents that an officer, or your bank, will never:
• Phone and ask you for your PIN or full banking password;
• Ask you to withdraw money to hand over to them for safe-keeping;
• Ask you to transfer money out of your account;
• Send someone to your home to collect cash, PINs, cards or cheque books
Report fraud here: www.actionfraud.police.uk
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