Fraudsters steal £180,000 from islanders in 24 hours

Friday 01 December 2017

Fraudsters have obtained almost £180,000 from islanders through numerous scams in the past 24 hours, prompting the police to issue an urgent warning.

The police have received five reports of scams involving text messages and emails appearing to be from NatWest and Lloyds.

The fraudsters are using legitimate companies and businesses to make these scams appear real to islanders. Yesterday, Natwest warned islanders about fake text messages asking recipients to call a fraud prevention number about a recent purchase made on their account, and provide personal information, including bank account and pin numbers.

The police says another method is currently targeting islanders: an email asking for payment of an invoice that is not legitimate. Both the text messages and the emails are scams and the police are reminding islanders that, "...real organisations never ask you for this information. Any communication from banks will use your actual name (not ‘Sir’, ‘Madam’ or ‘Customer’) and possibly another verification of authenticity such as your postcode or part of your account number."

They are urging the public not to call these numbers or respond to these emails and to never disclose passwords or other personal information in response to an email, phone call, text, social media post or letter purporting to be from your bank or other official organisation, "...however genuine they may seem."

The police are also warning islanders no to check their account or make a payment when they are connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi network, such as a hotspot in a café or hotel. "Logging in to a hotspot is no indication it’s secure, so use 3G/4G instead, or wait until you get home to your secure Wi-Fi. Only visit your bank's website by entering the address into your browser or using a bookmark you have created using the correct address."

They also urge the public to never lend their payments cards or reveal their PINs to anybody else and to be aware of 'shoulder surfers', whenever they are viewing their computer or mobile phone screen or at the ATM. 

If anything unusual appear on a bank statement, or if islanders spot anything irregular at the ATM, such as an unusual card slot or fascia, they should report it immediately.