Emergency Services
Fake Cops Warning
Most of these calls are targeting landlines
The island’s Constabulary has issued a warning over scams where the perpetrators are pretending to be police officers.
Most of these calls are targeting landlines.
Officers outlined that they have been made aware of three distinct types of scam currently targeting islanders:
1. A phone call is received and the caller explains that they are a Manx Police Officer, giving the Police Headquarters number 631212. They explains that a card has fraudulently been used by a someone, (sometimes a family member) and that they need bank / card information from the receiver to continue the report/investigation.
2. A Manx Police Officer calls and claims to be investigating an in house bank fraud. They instruct that to the bank will move your money if you ring them. The victim hangs up the call but the fraudster maintains the call connection and when the victim calls the bank, they instigate a false tone and answer the call pretending to be the bank. They then transfer the victims money from the account.
3. The caller claims to be a Manx Police Officer and explains a scam potentially similar to the others listed. They will claim you can verify the Officers identity by calling the station. Our victim used the 1471 feature and the Police HQ number 631212 is heard. Although in our report, the scam was realised at this point, that number verification may have been enough to satisfy a victim to instruct the bank.
The Police said: ‘Please be wary of any calls about frauds and money issues from anybody. Is it highly unlikely a police officer will ever contact you by phone about a fraud on your bank account before a bank would make contact in writing. The usual procedure would be you contact police to make a report. Additionally, all police numbers are blocked from the call back services so please do not take this as a sign of security.
‘Lastly, although not always, the majority of these scams are committed against our more elderly or vulnerable community. If you have the opportunity, please explain these scams to friends, family and anyone you think could be a potential victim.’
