Elderly/vulnerable members of the public have been receiving unsolicited telephone calls from criminals purporting to be from their bank or the police. The caller states that they have spotted a fraudulent payment on their card or fraudulent activity on their account.

The caller gains the person’s trust and explains that the bank will need to collect the card, or require them to withdraw large sums of money from their account.

The victim is then advised to place their card (or money withdrawn) into an envelope to disguise its appearance.

The criminal will then arrange a courier, taxi driver or similar to call to collect the envelope.

The courier is given the address (most frequently in London but now in Hampshire) where they are met by the offender outside the address to take the envelope enclosing card or money.

The advice from Hampshire Police is if you have the slightest suspicion about a transaction of this nature, contact the Police immediately by telephoning 101 or 999 if it is an emergency. Please advise the victim that this may be a scam.