Warning over police impersonation scam calls

Officers are urging people to stay vigilant against scammers pretending to be police officers after a number of calls were reported.

Several people in Chesterfield, Derby and Ripley have reported receiving a call out of the blue from someone claiming to be a police officer who said they were contacting them about fraudulent activity on their accounts.

Scams like these will rely on the victim cooperating by giving details, bank cards or cash to the ‘officer’ or a courier.

Fortunately, in each of these cases details were not provided and the victim called us before providing any details or attending the meeting.

PC Louise Rodger, one of our fraud protect officers, said: “Please share this message with your friends and family members, especially older or vulnerable relatives.

“Talk to them about our crime prevention advice – Stop! Think! Tell! By remembering to do this, they can protect themselves against scams.”

We have been raising awareness of scams such as this and our Stop! Think! Tell message during our Sock it to the Scammers campaign, which features our bright pink sock puppet called Claude.

If you haven’t yet seen Claude, you can watch the video below, or find out more about our campaign here: Pink puppet pops up with fraud tips to help ‘Sock It To The Scammers’ | Derbyshire Constabulary.

We’ve also issued the following advice for people to help them avoid becoming a victim of a police impersonation scam:

• Police officers will never call you out of the blue and request cash or personal information. They’ll never ask you to transfer money to another account, hand over cash or bank cards to a courier, or a pay a fine or fee over the phone. If someone asks you to do this, it's a scam.
• If an officer contacts you in person, they will show you their warrant card. This is proof of their identify and authority.
• If someone has called you and you are unsure if they are a genuine police officer, you can hang up and call police on 101 to check their identity.
• It’s recommended you wait at least five minutes and make sure you can hear a dialling tone before you call, as there have been cases of fraudsters keeping the line open after a victim has hung up.

You can find further information on how to check an officer's identify here: How to check an officer's identity | Derbyshire Constabulary.

If you think you've been approached or contacted by a scammer, you can report it by contacting us on the details below, or to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre, online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040:

Website – We have crime reporting tools on our website: use our online contact form

Facebook – send us private message to the Derbyshire Constabulary Facebook page

Twitter – direct message our contact centre via @DerPolContact

Phone – call us on 101

You can also anonymously contact the independent charity CrimeStoppers, on 0800 555 111, or by visiting the CrimeStoppers website.