Members of the public in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire are being urged to be very cautious when taking phones calls or answering the door following reports of a new banking scam involving people impersonating police officers and detectives visiting peoples homes claiming to be investigating attempted fraud on their banks accounts.
Between Oct 21 and Jan 2022, over thirty reports have been received from concerned members of the public across Renfrewshire and Ayrshire who have either been visited or contacted by individuals claiming to be from the local Police. Reports have been coming in from residents or Bearsden, Beith, Bishopbriggs, Clydebank, Dalry, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Greenock, Hamilton, Kilmarnock, Kirkintilloch, Paisley and Renfrew, Renfrewshire
In the latest incident a man telephoned claiming to be from the fraud office of a bank and on the same day two men attended at the same address claiming to be Police Scotland detectives investigating attempted fraudulent activity on their banks accounts and having the victim do bank transfer to “protect” their money when in reality its all a scam
Superintendent Campbell Wallace said: “Whoever these men were, they were not genuine Police Scotland officers. They were at the property for some time and even showed ID badges which we believe to be fake”
Unfortunately in this latest case the scammers managed to trick the victim into transferring £25,000 and we are asking people to be cautious in relation to this kind of scam. If you receive this kind of contact, ask for the officer’s details and which department they work for. If concerned you can always call 101 and request verification.
A bank will never ask you to personally transfer funds to another account to avoid someone stealing it.
The Police have asked anyone living in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire or Ayrshire with CCTV or door bells that record video to check their footage to see if they have captured these fraudsters on video as they may have called when you where not home or you might remember them calling but knew it was a scam and didn’t let them it.
Cameras and CCTV systems are not only helpful in a case like this but they also act as a great deterrent against burglary and vandalism, so we do recommend contacting you local security company to see what’s available.
Can’t find a local CCTV installer or security company?
In Scotland it is quite common for your local locksmith to offer CCTV installation, burglar alarm installation and other security services along side their usual 24 emergency call out locksmith service.
Try searching Google for Locksmith Renfrewshire or a more local search such as Locksmith Dumbarton for example to see who shows up
Scotland recently began a national roll-out of new identification cards for Police officers, which feature an up-to-date picture, along with other key information and various security enhancements that make them extremely difficult to replicate. This roll-out was started in October 2021 and all police officers should be able to provide this identification when carrying out legitimate police business.
