Courier fraud warning after victims lose more than £19.6 million in three months

Pensioners are urged to be vigilant after a spate of courier frauds in the east and south of the UK, including one case where a victim lost £5.3 million.

Reports to Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, have shown that members of the public have been contacted by criminals purporting to be either from the police or from their bank, claiming that the victim’s account has been taken over by fraudsters.

The victim has then been coerced to transfer money and/or buy gold bullion and jewellery to aid an investigation, often with the criminal posing as a courier to collect these valuable items from the victim’s address.

This type of crime is known as courier fraud. In some cases, criminals have even visited the victim’s home, posing as police officers to collect money, jewellery and bank cards.

In the last three months, more than £19.6 million has been lost to courier fraud, with high-value gold bullion cases reported in Wiltshire, Thames Valley, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

In all cases reported that featured gold bullion being purchased, the victims were between 75 and 91 years of age.

On November 30, 2023, a 91-year-old woman from Wiltshire tried to withdraw £50,000 from her bank following a phone call claiming to be from London Police.

Luckily, the bank blocked this transaction, and her son encouraged her to report the incident.

Cheryl Hurren, Complex Fraud Team manager at Wiltshire Police said: “Courier Frauds are of a great concern to Wiltshire Police and we take this type of fraud very seriously. We are aware that fraudsters use many devious tactics to coerce victims and we have been working closely with our local communities and Wiltshire jewellers to raise awareness of the dangers of this type of offence.

"Our dedicated Fraud Protect Officer Rachel Davies offers a personal advice and guidance service to members of the public who reside in Wiltshire and if any individuals or local community groups would like an input from Rachel please contact her on Rachel.Davies@wiltshire.police.uk.”

A way to block nuisance phone calls is to install a device called a call blocker unit.

Call blockers filter unwanted scam and nuisance calls and stop them from getting through to the person’s landline. The devices allow calls from a trusted caller list set by the user for friends, family members, doctors and any other trusted contacts. Should you want to know more about call blockers, visit www.truecall.co.uk.

Any jewellers or gold dealers who believe a customer may be the victim of a fraud in progress should call the police immediately on 999.

Reports of fraud should also be made to Action Fraud online or by calling 0300 123 2040.