Chesterfield police warn about phone call you may soon receive

Officers say they have received an increased number of reports about the call over the past few days, particularly within the postal code areas of S40, S41, S42 and S43.

A Derbyshire Constabulary spokesperson said: “The call is from someone pretending to be a police officer, who tells the person who answers that he is ‘DC Clarke from the Met Police’. The caller goes on to say the victim’s bank cards have been cloned and are being used to make purchases in the London area.

“We’re aware that a number of different names have been used by these scammers in the past including DC Morris, DC Ryan, DC Clarke and Sergeant Wiggins.

“The caller could also claim to be calling from your bank’s fraud department and alerting you to fraudulent activity on your account and the need to withdraw or transfer funds.

“If you receive such a call you should not give out any personal information and hang up the call immediately.

“We know that this type of call can be linked to courier fraud.

“This means that victims will be encouraged to withdraw funds or transfer funds from their bank account or give bank cards to a courier, arranged by the ‘police officer’ making the call under the guise of ‘assisting with a police investigation’.

“The police will never contact you asking for banking information or request that you withdraw money from an account to aid an investigation.

“Fraudsters often target geographical areas where they know elderly or vulnerable people live, so we would ask that if you have family or friends who are vulnerable in any way that you make them aware of this scam.

“If you, or someone you know, receives a call of this nature please contact us as soon as possible.

“We will then assess the area that is being targeted, alert the banks and endeavour to protect other local residents to prevent any financial loss.”

Facebook – send a private message to /DerbyshireConstabulary

Twitter – direct message the force’s contact centre on @DerPolContact

Website – complete the contact form at www.derbyshire.police.uk/ContactUs

Phone – call 101

You can also anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.