Scammer poses as officer to take woman's bank card

A police force has put out a warning after a scammer impersonated a police officer to take a woman's bank cards.

Cumbria Police said a woman in Barrow had been contacted by someone claiming to be from her bank, who said her card had expired and that she needed a new one.

A man came to her address the next day and introduced himself as a police officer who needed to carry out fingerprint checks on her cards, and also offered to take her jewellery for safekeeping.

The force said that if people received a call they were not expecting, they should be suspicious.

The man left with the bank cards, police said.

He later posted them back through the door after having made a number of transactions with the cards.

Officers warned the scam fitted a "pattern" of fraudsters pretending to be officials, such as bank fraud teams, police officers or HMRC officials.

They asked people in Cumbria to share the information with any vulnerable friends or family.

The police said scammers often requested bank details, money to be sent electronically, cash to be withdrawn at the bank for collection or expensive items to be bought for collection at a later time.

It added that their officers and other agencies would never request this.

Advice on how to protect yourself against fraud can be found in the BBC's Scam Safe week resources.

If you have been affected by fraud, support can be accessed through the BBC's Action Line.

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