Perthshire residents targeted by fraudsters impersonating police officers

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A number of people in Tayside have been conned out of their own money by an ongoing banking scam involving people impersonating police officers.

Between October 2021 and January 2022, over 30 reports have been received by Police Scotland from members of the public, who have either been visited or contacted by individuals claiming to be Police Scotland officers.On each occasion, the victim was contacted by telephone from someone claiming to be from a bank fraud department and advised that their bank account had been compromised.They were then requested to either transfer money remotely to another account online or attend at a bank and remove cash, which would later be collected by a police officer.More than £300,000 has been defrauded from victims and inquiries to identify those responsible are ongoing.While not every attempt to extort money was successful, those responsible also defrauded a number of victims across Forth Valley, Fife, Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and the Scottish Borders.

One incident took place in Aberfeldy during this time period, with police now calling for the public to remain vigilant and to bring forth any information.

Superintendent Hilary Sloan from Partnerships, Prevention and Community Wellbeing Division said: “While there are a number of ways police officers may look to contact you, please be mindful of this scam and always be suspicious of any unexpected contact.“If you receive such a call, or visit, ask for the officer’s details and which department they work for.“If the contact is by telephone, hang up and if possible use a different phone to contact the police service via 101, where you will speak to genuine members of Police Scotland and can request police officer