Police in Kirklees have issued a further warning to residents to not give bank details over the phone following a telephone scam which has resulted in the theft of several bank cards.
Detective Inspector Stef Wiseman, of Kirklees CID, said: “We have received around a dozen calls since the start of December from Dewsbury and Huddersfield residents reporting concerns about phone calls they have received purportedly from police officers working for West Yorkshire Police. The caller has claimed that the person’s bank card has been used fraudulently and then asked for details including the PIN number in order to ‘investigate the crime’. Where people have provided these details this has then been followed up by a visit from a ‘courier’ to collect the bank card with money then withdrawn from the account.
“The police simply do not operate in this way. We would never ask you to give out financial information over the phone and even if there was a requirement for you to be issued with a new card, neither the police or your bank or building society would ask you to hand over your old card.
“It is quite possible that other people have also received similar calls and either realised it is a scam and hung up or not realised up until now that a crime has been committed. We would urge these people to get in touch to help us in building up a picture of the scale of this issue and also to ensure that any offences are appropriately investigated.
“The victims so far have predominantly been Asian families with the caller having details such as their name and address before they make contact. We would therefore urge people, particularly those living in Asian communities, to make others aware of this scam and what to do if they receive such a call.”
Anyone who has already received a call of this nature is asked to call Kirklees CID on 101 with details. Anyone receiving a new call is asked to immediately afterwards dial 1471 to check whether there is any incoming call data and then also report the call to the police.
Two people have been arrested in connection with the investigation in to this series of offences and released on bail.