Warning follows bank card phone scam

credit cardsPolice are warning people never to give out credit or bank card PINs over the phone following a number of related card scam incidents on Monday (December 16).

 

It’s believed scammers tried at least five times on Monday to carry out their con – and on one occasion they were successful.
 
In each case a caller rang a potential victim to ‘warn’ that they may have already been a victim of fraud. The caller then tried to get personal information, including details about bank cards.
 
If the victim hadn’t become suspicious, the caller would then try to con them into typing their pin number into the phone keypad and tell them they would send someone around to get the cards.
 
In one case a Shirley resident did as instructed and a man came to pick up her cards, which were later used to withdraw £100 in cash. Fortunately the woman realised what had happened and cancelled her cards shortly afterwards.
 
Other incidents are reported in Lyndhurst, Shirley, Portswood and Eastleigh, but in each case the victims became suspicious and refused to hand over details without carrying out further checks, and the caller quickly hung up.
 
Police are advising people to do exactly that: to hang up if you are called by someone asking for bank details or pin numbers. They say end the call, take note of any phone number and call the police to report it. Do not give out your pin number.
 
They also recommend that if someone claims they are a police officer take their name and collar number and call the force they say they are from to check out if they are genuine.
 
Anyone with information about the scams and knows who may be responsible is asked to call 101 and report it.
 
Police are also offering this general information about telephone scams:
 
•    Never accept offers over the phone “if they sound too good to be true, they usually are”.
•    Never give personal details over the phone.
•    Report any suspicious phone calls to your phone company.
•    Consider registering your number with Telephone Preference Service (TPS Online) or 0845 070 0707.
•    Most telephone providers will block anonymous callers.
•    Never give your credit or bank card PIN number out over the phone. This information is never requested legitimately by your bank or the police. 
•    If you think something is wrong, hang up the phone.
More information about phone scams can be found at www.thinkjessica.com

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