Elderly residents in Northampton are being targeted by a cunning credit card conman who rings them and poses a police officer.
Northamptonshire Police this afternoon issued a warning after six reports of a bogus scam were reported yesterday, all of elderly victims receiving phone calls at home from a man claiming to be a police officer.
The incidents all happened between 2pm and 8pm, with five recorded in Northampton and one in Weedon.
In each incident the conman told the victim that detectives had arrested men who were found with the victim’s credit card details on them.
The fraudster encourages the victim to call the bank and cancel the card.
However, the conman then managed to keep the phone line open, meaning that when the victim called the bank the call was instead connected, unknowingly to the victim, straight back to the conman.
The man then pretends to be the bank and asks the victim to give their full card details and key in their PIN.
He then told the victims a courier will be sent to collect the card.
A courier then arrived a short while later to collect the card.
A police spokesman said: “If anybody receives a call like this, they are encouraged to phone the police from another phone, or call from a neighbour’s phone.”