The "nasty crime" which Greater Manchester pensioners should be wary of
28.05.2024 - 11:29
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
It is a "nasty crime" which targets pensioners and can shatter lives. In the last year more than £28.7 million was lost nationally to courier fraud. In Greater Manchester there were 21 cases between April 2023 and March this year with £90,673 being stolen.
People in their 80s are most likely to be targeted by criminals carrying out courier fraud, with this age range accounting for 43 per cent of all victims, data from Action Fraud shows.
Victims are contacted by crooks purporting to be police officers, or bank officials and duped into handing over money, valuables or bank cards, which are collected from their home address, often by couriers. The criminals use a variety of different tactics, often telling people that there is a problem with their account and they need their help to catch the criminals.
The victim may also be encouraged into handing over their bank cards and PINs, as well as high value items such as jewellery, watches and gold (coins or bullion). Victims can also be coerced into going out and buying items such as gold and jewellery from legitimate retailers on behalf of criminals.
At the start of May 2024, City of London Police’s Lead Force Operations Room (LFOR) led the coordination of a two-week intensification period on courier fraud. Across the two weeks, there were over 100 referrals from 26 forces across England and Wales. LFOR then acted as a temporary “command centre” to help support forces with the dissemination of referrals whilst also providing tactical support.
Financial losses during this period amounted to total over £290,000 with one victim losing £56,000. The majority of offences (70%) involved criminals pretending to be the police and in 22% of cases they pretended to be from their bank.
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