Police warning after surge in Shirebrook fake-cop scam calls

Tammy Barnes, Derbyshire Police fraud protect officer, said: “These callers pretend to be investigating a crime involving the victims’ card or bank account. They then ask for money transfers, or even for cash withdrawals or bank cards to be given to a courier, to ‘assist with the investigation.’ Which the police will never do.

“We also know these fraudsters can target geographical areas where they know elderly or vulnerable people live, so please spread this message far and wide.”

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The cold calls will give a fake name – potentially Det Insp Cameron, Det Sgt Cooper,Det Con Matthew Phillips or PC Smith. Another warning sign is the fake officer says not to share any details of the call with anyone as it risks jeopardising the police investigation, this is to apply pressure to the victim to comply and not ask for help.

It is also important to note on previous occasions the caller has asked the victim to call 999 to verify their claims, but instead remains on the line to complete the scam.

The police will never contact you to request banking information or ask for funds to aid an investigation. Officers say they are currently seeing a high number of these calls in Shirebrook.

If you receive a call like this – hang up and contact officers to report it as soon as possible. Police can then assess where is targeted, alert banks and prevent other scams:

You can contact Derbyshire polive via: Facebook – send a private message to fb.com/DerbyshireConstabulary; Twitter – direct message their contact centre on @DerPolContact; Website – visit the Derbyshire police site and complete the online contact form; or Phone – call officers using the 101 number.

If you wish to phone police to report an incident, wait five minutes after ending the scam call and make sure you hear a dial tone before calling 101. You can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.