A total of 93 residents have fallen victim to audacious bank card scammers in the last two years

Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNTs) across Brent are urging elderly residents to avoid falling foul of fraudsters who use courier firms to help defraud victims of their life savings.

A total of 93 residents in the borough were scammed by the ruthless criminals between January 2011 and December last year

Officers in the borough and throughout London are carrying out activities to highlight crime prevention measures as part of the Met’s Courier Fraud Awareness Day taking place today.

The fraudsters call their victim d claiming to be someone from an authority; usually the police, bank or Serious Fraud Office.

They tell them that their bank account has been compromised and their card must be collected.

They then ask their victim to hang up and call the appropriate organisation on a genuine number to check that they are who they say they are.

The victim dials the number but the fraudster does not disconnect so, unknown to the victim, they are still speaking to the suspect or a co-conspirator.

One resident in Brent prevented herself falling victim to a similar ruse by refusing to give out her details.

The woman was called by an ‘Adam Tedefe’ who claimed someone had tried to use her card in Argos in Camden and he needed to verify some details from her.

She hung up but received another call later that day by a man who claimed her card had been comprised and she must withdraw all her money out at an ATM machine.

When she refused to do so the caller swore at her and hung up.

She suspected it was ‘Adam Tedefe’ again.

Today Brent SNTs will be giving presentations to elderly residents, holding street briefings and drop in surgeries, delivering courier fraud prevention flyers and distributing posters, setting up courier fraud prevention stalls at transport hubs and key community areas, making follow-up visits to victims and visit potential victims and visiting cab and courier firms to advise them on spotting courier fraudsters.

Commander Steve Rodhouse, who is leading the operation, said: “Courier fraudsters put a huge amount of time and effort into being convincing because for them the pay-off is immense. This is a massive part of what makes them so successful.

“We want people to question even truly genuine sounding calls and, most importantly, remember police and banks will never ask for your PIN or bank card, so you should never give these away.

“We are also urging courier and cab firms to be alert to anyone who may be using them to carry out this fraud. If you are asked to collect a package that you believe could be a bank card, do not make the delivery but call police immediately.

“You could prevent someone from being a victim of this terrible crime, and also stop yourself from being implicated.”