A WARNING has been issued after a number of Gwent residents have reported receiving scam phone calls from people claiming to be a police officer or banking official.

The caller has claimed either that there has been fraudulent activity at the victims’ bank and they must withdraw money to either keep it safe or assist police; that a local business such as a jewellers or currency exchange is fraudulent and the victim is required to help secure evidence by making a large purchase and hand it over to police; or that due to the victims’ bank card being compromised and used to purchase goods, they must withdraw their money to keep it safe or hand over their card.

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In some cases, the victim will be told to dial a non-emergency extension of ‘161’ to receive confirmation of the individual’s bogus identity.

The bogus official will advise the victim to lie about the reason for the withdrawal or purchase if challenged by staff, as the staff member is involved in the fraud.

A courier then attends the victim’s home address to collect the goods the same day. Often the victim is given a code word for the courier as a way of authentication.

Gwent Police have said that they are aware of the offences, and informed residents that banks or the police will never phone and ask you for your PIN or full banking password, ask you to withdraw money to hand over to them for safe-keeping, ask you to transfer money out of your account, or send someone to your home to collect cash, PINs, cards to cheque books.

If you have been a victim of fraud, report it to

https://crowd.in/xNwVsI

or call 0300 123 2040.