A CRUEL scammer tricked an elderly woman out of thousands of pounds by pretending to be a police officer.

In the latest incident of 'courier fraud' in the county, in what appears to be a string of stings, the pensioner was contacted by a bogus ‘police officer’ on Wednesday.

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He said he had ‘arrested’ somebody who worked at a bank and needed the woman’s help in getting evidence for an investigation.

The woman was then asked to go into her bank and withdraw some cash – but the sophisticated fraudster had already told her not to tell anybody what the money was for if they asked.

The scammer then sent a courier to her home in Oxford within a couple of hours to collect the money.

What is courier fraud? All the information you need to know about the scam 

A similar trick was played on an unsuspecting resident who had only just moved to Drayton in August.

That victim only made the grim discovery that she had lost all her life savings when she called 101 to check the 'police' operation she was told about was going ahead.

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On August 12, the woman was also phoned out of the blue by somebody claiming to be a ‘sergeant’ from Thames Valley Police.

When questioned he gave his ‘badge number’ and then went on to say he had arrested a woman in Bicester who had been caught using her ‘cloned card’ to buy something for £700.

He named her as a NatWest employee and said she had been making counterfeit money at the Abingdon branch ‘for years’.

The woman was then asked to help in the investigation and was tasked with going into the branch ‘undercover’ to withdraw £2,900 from her account.

Another call from a bogus NatWest fraud employee confirmed that she should do this – but this was also part of the scam.

When she returned with the money she read out the serial number of each note to the scammer who said they were all ‘fake’ – but this was another lie and the money was actually real.

She followed orders and put the ‘fake’ cash into an envelope, writing a code on it ready for a non-uniformed ‘police courier’ to collect it later that day.

The next day she was told she would have to give evidence at Oxford Magistrates’ Court but when the police car didn’t arrive to collect her she called 101 to check everything was okay.

She gave the police the ‘crime reference numbers’ but the call handler had to tell her that it was a lie and she had been conned.

The crime is known as courier fraud and police have had at least 80 reports about it in the past year.

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The police said: “The Banking Protocol trains bank staff to spot when someone is about to fall victim to a scam and try to prevent them from withdrawing cash to give to a fraudster, the bank will then request an immediate police response to the branch. If a member of staff at the bank asks you why you are withdrawing a large amount of cash, please tell them."

Oxford Mail:

Our poster is printer friendly and can be given to your neighbours as a reference. 

  • The police and other agencies will never as you to move money into a safe account, ask you to reveal your banking PIN or full password.
  • Police won't typically call up out of the blue
  • Scammers always act with urgency using words like ‘now’, ‘quick’, and ‘don’t delay’.
  • Anybody can be targeted but the large majority are over 70-years-old.
  • If a scammer calls you, or you are unsure if you are being scammed, hang up and call back a familiar number – often they stay on the other end of the line
  • Stop, challenge and protect: take a moment to think about parting with your money or information, question whether the call is fake and know that it is okay to hang up, refuse or ignore calls, protect yourself and your money.
  • If you have fallen victim to a scam call action fraud on 0300 123 2040
  • In an emergency always call 999. To report a crime call police on 101.