999 CALLS BLOCK BRANCH SCAMS

MORE than £9 million of attempted fraud in bank branches has been stopped and 101 arrests made in the first year of a rapid response scheme launched in October 2016 by banks and police.

Banking staff can call 999 if they are worried a customer may be about to fall victim to a scam, if they are trying to make a large withdrawal or transfer. Police and trading standards officers have been called 1,262 times, stopping losses of up to £212,000 by individual customers. Barry Fox, 71, a retired lorry driver from Essex, was stopped from withdrawing £9,000 to pay for a scam eBay listing of a 1988 Rolls-Royce at his Barclays branch. Police arrived in half-an-hour.

Barry says: ‘I was relieved when I found out how close I’d come to losing that money. I’ve since bought a genuine 1989 Rolls-Royce.’