Good news: police may come to rescue

POLICE are increasingly likely to come knock- ing at your door if they think you are being scammed online or over the phone.

Scam victims were prevented from handing over as much as £45.3 million to fraudsters last year thanks to the initiative, according to banking group UK Finance.

Under the banking protocol scheme, bank branch staff alert local police forces when they suspect a scam is taking place. Police officers then visit the home of the suspected victim and intervene. The protocol is designed to prevent crimes, including impersonation, courier, rogue trader and romance- related scams.

In some sophisticated scams, victims are convinced by the fraudster not to trust their bank, so when bank staff warn them they are being scammed they still don’t necessary believe it. But, a police officer turning up at their door can often be enough to shake the victim out from the spell cast by the crook.

Since September, the protocol has been rolled out to cover attempted bank transfers made by customers through telephone and online banking as well as in branches. Banking staff in call centres and online banking teams notify the police when they believe customers are being scammed.

So far, just 24 police forces have signed up to the scheme – just under half have yet to do so. Halifax bank’s Barry Sobey, who is a branch manager in Newcastle, has successfully used the protocol several times. ‘Last month we helped to stop an 81-year-old customer from handing over £80,000 as part of an investment scam,’ he says. ‘The victim was about to hand over his daughter’s inheritance to a convincing scammer who had a cloned website, investment prospectus and was very polite and well-spoken.’