Police are issuing images of two men they want to trace after an elderly woman’s debit card was fraudulently obtained and used.
On Sunday, 5 March at around 19:00hrs, the victim – a woman aged in her 80s – received a call at home in Kentish Town from a man purporting to be a ‘DCI Alex Watts’ from Wood Green police station. He told the victim that two people had been arrested after her bank cards had been cloned and that a courier would come round to collect her existing bank cards.
During the call the man also obtained the victim’s PIN number after asking her to enter it into the keypad of the phone.
A short time later a man arrived at the address and the victim handed over the cards in a sealed envelope.
The bogus police officer remained on the phone and further engaged the woman in conversation; this time asking her about cash she had in house. He asked the woman to read out serial numbers of the notes in her possession; when she did so the fraudster said they were counterfeit notes as they had one too few digits on their serial numbers.
Once again, a courier was arranged to collect the ‘counterfeit’ notes with the fraudulent police officer promising they would be swapped for genuine notes.
After the woman handed over the money to the same courier who had attended earlier, she began to get suspicious. She called Wood Green police station who confirmed no DCI Alex Watts worked there. The victim then raised the alarm with neighbours.
The courier who attended on both occasions was described as a male of Asian appearance, aged between 20 and 30, wearing dark clothing including a scarf over the lower part of his face.
Detectives are circulating images of two men who used the woman’s card to withdraw money from a cashpoint in Queens Crescent, NW5.
Detective Constable Becky Smith leads the investigation and said: “Police officers will never phone you up and ask you to disclose information such as bank card details and PIN numbers or arrange couriers to come and pick up items. If you are called by someone masquerading as a police officer, take their details, hang up and call the police on 101 to check their credibility.”
Anyone who recognises these men or who has information that could assist the investigation is asked to contact the Central North Command Unit CID based at Islington on 02083450275. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
For advice on how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud, visit https://www.met.police.uk/advice-and-information/fraud/