{"id":8474,"date":"2021-10-26T17:24:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T16:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/?p=8474"},"modified":"2021-10-26T17:30:22","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T16:30:22","slug":"criminals-target-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/news\/criminals-target-the-elderly\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminals target the elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-8474\" data-postid=\"8474\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-8474 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n\n<p><b>Action Fraud is warning the public to protect their loved ones as criminals cheat older and vulnerable victims out of cash and high value items through courier fraud.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Data from Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, reveals that \u00a310,325,133 has been lost by victims to courier fraud since the start of this year \u2013 an increase of almost two thirds (63 per cent) compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n<h5><b>What is courier fraud?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Courier fraud is when victims receive a phone call from a criminal who is pretending to be a police officer or bank official. Typically, victims are told to withdraw a sum of money and someone is sent to their home address to collect it.<\/p>\n<p>Criminals may also convince the victim to transfer money to a \u2018secure\u2019 bank account, hand over their bank cards or give the criminals high value items, such as jewellery, watches and gold (coins or bullion).<\/p>\n<p>Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of victims were aged 70 to 89 years old, and over three quarters (84 per cent) of victims were aged 60 to 99 years old.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One common tactic used is where victims are contacted by a suspect who attempts to persuade them to purchase gold as part of a \u2018police investigation\u2019 that is later collected by a courier on behalf of the criminals.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, the suspects have invited themselves into the victim\u2019s home and collected other valuables, saying that the victim\u2019s possessions are no longer safe and they, \u2018as the police\u2019, can safeguard them.<\/p>\n<p>Another common tactic used is called \u201copen phone\u201d where the victim is persuaded to stay on the phone to the criminal whilst they go to withdraw money or go to a jewellers. This stops the victim interacting with anyone else, or having the chance to think about what is really happening.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>How to protect yourself and loved ones:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Your bank or the police will never call you to ask you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone, or offer to pick up your bank card by courier. Hang up immediately if you receive a call like this.<\/li>\n<li>If you need to contact your bank to check the call was legitimate, wait five minutes as fraudsters may stay on the line after you hang up. Alternatively, use a different line altogether to contact your bank and ensure you call them back on a number listed on the bank\u2019s website, or on the back of your debit or credit card.<\/li>\n<li>Your debit or credit card is yours: don\u2019t let a stranger take it from you. You should only ever have to hand it over at your bank. If it\u2019s cancelled or expired, you should destroy it yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Tell-tale signs of attempted courier fraud:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Someone claiming to be from your bank or local police force calls you to tell you about fraudulent activity, but is asking you for personal information, or even your PIN, to verify who you are.<\/li>\n<li>They are suggesting that you call them back, so you can be sure they are genuine, but when you try to return the call, there\u2019s no dial tone.<\/li>\n<li>They say they are trying to offer you peace of mind by having somebody pick up the card for you, to save you the trouble of having to go to your bank or local police station.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you think you\u2019ve been a victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online at <a href=\"https:\/\/actionfraud.police.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">actionfraud.police.uk<\/a> or by calling <b>0300 123 2040<\/b>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>By clicking on one of these links you are departing from the regulatory site of Sky Blue Wealth Management. Neither Sky Blue Wealth Management Ltd nor Comet Wealth Ltd is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained within the linked site.<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Action Fraud is warning the public to protect their loved ones as criminals cheat older and vulnerable victims out of cash and high value items through courier fraud. Data from Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, reveals that \u00a310,325,133 has been lost by victims to courier fraud since the start [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":160,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbwm.uk\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}