Warning after bank fraud scam caller fools victim

HOUSEHOLDERS ARE being warned to be on their guard after a Cupar resident lost a “significant sum” of money to a telephone banking fraud scam.

Police in Cupar are investigating a scam where a man with a west coast accent made a call on Thursday evening to the home of an unsuspecting member of the public and persuaded them to move money into a fraudulent account.

The caller, who used a withheld number, purported to be an employee of a bank and inferred that there was a problem with some kind of illicit transactions from the victim’s personal account.

A request was then made by the caller to move funds via internet banking to a specific bank account.

On this occasion, the victim believed this to be a scam, correctly terminated the call and then immediately called a number for the bank to report this matter.

However the fraudster did not terminate the initial call and was again connected to the victim who believed they were speaking to a bank employee.

Reassured that the same voice must

mean the call was genuinely from the bank, the householder agreed to carry out the transaction.

However, this decision inadvertently completed the fraud and a significant sum of money was lost.

Sergeant Gary Combe said: “Inquiries have been instigated into this report of a fraudulent scheme where a signif icant sum was obtained.

“We are warning members of the public who may receive such calls to be on their guard and be both cautious and aware of this scam.

“We are warning members of the public to be on

their guard.”

Sergeant Gary Combe

“This is a fairly common scam where the fraudster makes a telephone call to a member of the public and suggests that they have identified some unauthorised transactions on their account and requests transfer of funds to a bank account set up by the fraudsters,” explained Sergeant Combe.

“In this instance however the call was correctly terminated by the member of the public but the fraudsters remained on the telephone line, effectively keeping the call live.”

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

malexander@thecourier.co.uk