Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Call from fake police officer in a two-pronged scam attempt
Yesterday, my husband received a phone call from a police officer telling him that he had been the victim of attempted identity fraud. The officer gave him a name, a crime reference number, a number to call and the name of the (real) police station in central London.
The officer told him that they had arrested some people with a number of fake driving licences including my husbands. He assured him that they were handling it, alerting the DVLA and sending reports to relevant banks etc for whom the arrested people appeared to have some login details. So far so good.
The officer kept my husband talking for 20 minutes, during which time he appeared to want no information beyond what he had already got, ie a phone number and an email. My husband thanked him, assured him he would be vigilant, and rang off, slightly annoyed that this had happened again and expecting a flood of letters telling him he'd opened accounts with various phone companies (like last time).
About 90 minutes later, my husband got a second phone call following an email (being a bit vague at this point as I don't want to publish more details for any passing scammer to harvest). The email appeared legit and sure enough a call came through. The person on the other hand (well-spoken London accent apparently) then proceeded to try and get him to perform a financial transaction over the phone. At this point the alarm bells began to ring 🚨. After a fraught few minutes with my husband challenging the caller over various assertions, the caller rang off.
Then the penny dropped. It wasn't just the financial call that had been fake but ALSO THE POLICE OFFICER!
Thinking back, my husband realised the only bit of information he'd given up was the fact he was with a certain financial institution because the officer appeared to already know this (proper fake medium levels of extricating information without you realising it). He called the real Met police who told him that the name and badge number of the officer was fake, as was the crime number. Only the police station was real. They were sympathetic and told him to report it to Action Fraud but, of course, as no money had actually been lost there wasn't that much they could do.
My husband, who has done countless phishing training sessions with his company, checked the email again and realised the address was slightly different from that of the real organisation.
The scammers performed an extraordinarily sophisticated two pronged attack here. First of all an apparent call from a trusted organisation (the police) which APPEARED to not want any information, but setting you up for the second part which was to try and convince you that your financial information had been hacked and that you must move it INSTANTLY.
This combination of alarm and pressure can be extremely effective and often works. The minute that anyone tries to pressure you to do any financial transaction over the phone ("I'll walk you through it" they say) that's the moment you hang up. I wouldn't recommend my husband's technique of challenging the caller until they hang up unless you're particularly skilled at it! The more I think about this scam, the more I realised how sophisticated this was, using our expectations of the police (probably based on too much tv), the psychology of building trust but also softening you up for an expectation that someone might be about to hack you and then the sting. It's only got to work a couple of times to walk away with someone's savings.
A few years ago I used to volunteer at Citizens Advice in Research and Campaigns. One thing we worked on a lot was scams which range from the "I'm from Microsoft" to "you have a tax rebate" to these financial scams where they try and actually get you to move money to them. This is the first time that Ive heard of anyone posing as a police officer. Definitely one for my "collection" (yes I do listen to True Crime podcasts about scams and financial crime - I recommend Shadow World on the BBC)
Finally, if you think something is a scam always hang up or walk away. Don't imagine you'd be too savvy to fall for it. Anyone can be scammed. Always let people know if you're being pressured or feel unsure. You can always ring the organisations who appear to be calling you if you're not sure on a trusted number (not one the scammer gives you).
Find out more here at Citizen's Advice
Tags for Forum Posts: fake police officer, scams
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marian Leatherby
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Thank you Liz
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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Thanks for posting this Liz.
Fraudsters will convey urgency and try to get their target to act quickly. That is a big red flag.
A while ago a scammer pretended to be from some anti-scam agency and he asked if I'd made such and such purchases on a credit card. He sounded deadly serious. I should have challenged straight away, but I answered no. However, when I asked on what card, he said he couldn't divulge for security reasons (?!)
He asked me to retrieve the card and bring it to the phone. The caller then asked me to confirm that the bank's phone number was on the back of the card. I confirmed that that number was there.
He asked me to confirm I had the card in my possession (yes) and urged me to ring my bank on the (real) bank phone number. Straightaway.
I had not given him any information.
You can always ring the organisations who appear to be calling you if you're not sure on a trusted number (not one the scammer gives you).
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I hung up, preparing to make the call to the real phone number of the real bank. It was a trusted number and the scammer had not given me the number.
However, I delayed making that call for a crucial minimum period (a minute or so?)
In retrospect that delay was likely to have saved me much trouble and expense. My caution was caused by the caller's declining to confirm which bank had issued the card (above).
Then came the clever part:
While I had hung up the phone at my end, the fraudster had not hung up at his end. By not hanging up, he had held the line open (in the same way that extension in a house can work). Any call I dialled during the next x seconds would have gone to the caller and been answered by an accomplice, possible a woman, pretended to be at the bank.
If I had quickly dialled the bank's real number on the back of a real card, then I would have had no reason to suspect I was not dealing with my bank. I expect I would then have been asked to answer questions in order to pass bank security and/or to move money to another account.
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On the other hand, it can be satisfying if not actual fun, dealing with callers—normally with an Indian accent—claiming to be from Microsoft Technical Support. I've honed a variety of techniques to handle those callers …
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest
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This is a classic one Clive. My advice to anyone is call organisation's number on the back of your bank card *from your mobile* - it avoids the part of the scam you are highlighting.
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Justin, yes. Once (nearly) bitten, twice shy. Or forever shy.
I wish that legislators, the Courts, the Police and banks would take fraud more seriously.
Like shoplifters, these individuals force up costs for everyone else. Theft and fraud is simply absorbed and passed on to the rest of society.
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Permalink Reply by Liz
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Yes, I should have added that if you are on a landline and the person actively encourages you to “call your bank” to check that this is what they will do. Someone tried to catch me that way a few years ago. I think this is harder for them to do on mobiles but nevertheless, never do anything a suspected scammer is super keen for you to do. These days it’s easy to log into your bank and do things like send a secure message to them. It’s sound advice to always wait for a bit before taking any action and not to panic.
On your second point, fraud now makes up about 40% of crime in the UK (after all why risk robbing a bank with a stocking over your head when you can defraud its customers instead from the comfort of your computer?) yet only 2% of policing resources go to solving it, even though it’s a crime that can cause considerable distress and even shame to people. Much fraud goes unreported as people are reluctant to admit they’ve been scammed. With the advent of smarter technology including AI, I can’t help thinking it’s going to be even more likely that we will have to deal with scammers in the future.
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Permalink Reply by Mavic Starfish
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Thanks Liz, always useful to have a reminder that the scammers change their tactics all the time.
In other news I had someone turn up on the doorstep selling dish cloths to raise funds for ex offenders who were getting back on their feet. First time in 20 years living round here. I said I already donated to similar organisations via official channels.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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I got one a few years ago from a ‘police officer’ claiming to be from Edgware police station. He told me that they had recovered goods that had been stolen from me. I hadn’t of course been the victim of theft so told him that I didn’t believe him and that he was a scammer. He then told me my full address and threaten to send someone around to my home (with a lot of expletives). It really did worry me, and I of course reported it to the police, but left me wondering how this could have easily escalated if the person called had been alone and vulnerable.
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Horrible but very crude by comparison to this chap who was the epitome of charm and caring by all accounts. And an answer for everything. Even the one who was trying to extract money remained polite and calm but he eventually hung up when he realised he was rumbled.
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Some model questions for the Microsoft Technical Support scammers in India:
- Do your parents know how you earn a living?
- … Are they proud of you? [sometimes answered with yes, and yes]
- Is there a police station near you?
- … Will you consider turning yourself in?
And,
I hope you can find a better job.
(one Indian woman scammer quietly thanked me for this wish before hanging up).
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I am utterly ruthless about putting anything with a personal flavour into my bin or recycling. Any financial information is held back and destroyed at home. I even tear names and addresses from envelopes and letters and destroy these.
It’s an effort but I really hope I make it as hard as possible for some git to tell me they know who I am and where I live! The folks we often see rooting through our bins are a big part of the problem sadly.
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