POLICE have warned residents about a telephone scam in which callers are duped into sending their debit card by courier to fraudsters.
The scam has risen in recent months and safer neighbourhood teams are urging residents to be vigilant and not share their private bank details with anyone over the phone.
Victims receive a call on a landline phone by someone claiming to be from their bank and are told that their debit or credit card needs to be collected for replacement following a fraudulent payment on their account.
The caller asks the victim to ring back using the telephone number on the back of the card, which further convinces you that the call is genuine. But the conman stays on the line, so the victim is unknowingly connected straight back to the fraudster.
In most cases, the victim is asked to cancel their existing card or activate or authorise a replacement card by typing the PIN into the phone handset.
The fraudster then poses as a bank representative who agrees to collect the card from their home, sometimes offering a replacement card, which is fake.
In some cases, a genuine courier company is hired to pick up the card. At this point the conmen will have the card and the PIN and can spend the victim's cash.
A variation of the scam involves a fraudster ringing a prospective victim and claiming to be from the police, again with the aim of going to the victim's home to collect the card and PIN.
A police spokeswoman said: “Neither your bank nor the police would ever ring you and state that they are coming to your home to pick up your card, so never hand it over to anyone who comes to collect it.
“Your bank will never ask you to authorise anything by entering your PIN into the telephone handset.
“Never share your PIN with anyone. The only times you should use your PIN is at a cash machine or when you use a chip and PIN machine in a shop or restaurant.”
If you have been targeted and the criminals are at or near your home, call 999 immediately, or if the crime has already happened, please call your local police station via 101.
All victims of this kind of fraud should call their bank or card company immediately.
For more advice, visit the Metropolitan Police website via www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/bank_card_fraud .
