🚨 Courier Fraud Alert 🚨

We have received several reports of courier fraud targeting residents of East Kent including Whitstable and Deal. It is likely these calls could move to other areas of the county. 

Calls have been received from a criminal impersonating a police officer. The name reported as being used in this current scam are DC Little, Hammersmith Police & DC Peter King, Met Police. Criminals may use any names and/or say they are calling from specific police stations.  

The criminal might be able to confirm some basic details about you such as your full name and address. They may claim there is an issue with your bank account, they have someone in custody or request your assistance with an ongoing police investigation. The ultimate aim of this call is to convince you into withdrawing large sums of cash, purchasing gift cards, foreign currency, high value goods including gold bullion or giving over your bank card. The criminal will say an undercover officer will attend the address to collect the items or cash.

The criminal may also tell you to lie to the bank staff as they may ‘be in on it’ and tell you to lie about what the money is for. 

🚨 This is a SCAM! 🚨

The Police will NEVER ask you for financial details, request you to withdraw cash or purchase gift cards, foreign currency or high value goods and police will NEVER ask you to lie. 

Protect yourself from fraud with the A B C of fraud: 

Never ASSUME – Never assume a caller is genuine. Criminals may know basic information about you.

Never BELIEVE – Never believe a caller is genuine – scammers can ‘spoof’ official telephone numbers, so the call display may show as an official number such as the police or banks telephone number, but it does not mean it is a genuine call.

Always CONFIRM – always confirm if the call is genuine – Ask the caller for their name and badge number. Tell the caller you will hang up and call back to confirm.  

To ensure the criminals are still not on the line, use an alternative phone  and call  police on 101 and ask if it was a genuine call. 
If you do not have another phone to hand, call a trusted friend or family member first, to ensure the line is cleared, or you can unplug the landline, wait for 10 minutes and then call police to confirm. 

🚨 If a courier arrives at your property ring 999.

☎️ If this has happened to you please contact your bank immediately by calling 159 and report it to Kent Police on 101.