Fraudsters posing as Scots police steal more than £300k from victims in banking scam

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Fraudsters have successfully managed to impersonate police in a banking scam which has robbed victims of more than £300,000.

Police Scotland said that, since October, they have received more than 30 reports from members of the public, who have either been visited or contacted by individuals claiming to be officers.

On each occasion, the victim was phoned by someone claiming to be from a bank fraud department telling them their account had been compromised.They were then asked to either transfer money remotely to another account online or go to a bank and remove cash, which would later be collected by a police officer.Police said they are treating the scam with the "utmost seriousness" and are urging people to be vigilant as investigations continue.While not every attempt to extort money was successful, those responsible defrauded a number of victims across Forth Valley, Fife, Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Tayside, Ayrshire and the Scottish Borders.Superintendent Hilary Sloan, from the Partnerships, Prevention and Community Wellbeing Division, said: "While there are a number of ways police officers may look to contact you, please be mindful of this scam and always be suspicious of any unexpected contact."If you receive such a call, or visit, ask for the officer's details and which department they work for.

If the contact is by telephone, hang up and if possible use a different phone to contact the police service via 101, where you will speak to genuine members of Police Scotland and can request police officer verification."We began a national rollout of new identification cards, which feature an up-to-date picture of the officer, along with other key information and various security enhancements that make them