Luton residents are being warned to watch out for telephone scammers posing as Bedfordshire Police officers and attempting to trick people into handing over their bank details.
The force says it has received a number of reports in recent days and weeks about calls from someone claiming to be a police officer. While some of the people targeted have been in Bedfordshire, the same phone number has also been used to contact people elsewhere in the UK.
The caller reportedly claims police have seized stolen bank cards from someone in custody before asking the person receiving the call to provide their own bank card details.
Detective Inspector Ben Searle said the fraudsters were using technology to make their calls appear genuine, including displaying numbers associated with trusted organisations.
“Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can make a phone number appear genuine, including numbers belonging to trusted organisations such as the police. In recent reports, an 01234 number which appears to be linked to Bedfordshire Police has been used.
“In these incidents, the caller purporting to work for the force has asked for victims’ bank card details after claiming they have seized stolen bank cards from someone in police custody. Thankfully, none of these reports has ended in the victim giving over details or cash, but these are just the calls we know about and sadly there may be many others, or victims who have been defrauded of money.”
Police are stressing that officers will never ask anyone to provide bank details, withdraw money, move funds or hand over cash or bank cards.
Detective Inspector Searle added: “Please remember that no-one from Bedfordshire Police would ever ask you to give your bank details, or withdraw, move or hand over money. Be vigilant to this kind of fraud and especially ale
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