There has been an increase in reports of attempted frauds being committed on the elderly, by fraudsters calling and claiming to be from the police.

Elderly victims are being targeted on their landlines, and fraudsters are trying to gain access to their bank card details.

The caller in a number of recent instances has identified themselves as DC Lewis (BG6315) from Paddington Police Station and has attempted to harvest bank card details by claiming someone has been arrested in possession of their card or a clone of it.

They have then attempted to get the victim to handover their details so that they can verify them with a view of making a financial gain.

Fortunately, each victim has not engaged beyond the original phone call and suffered no financial losses, but there is every risk of further contact to the same victims to use more persuasive and pressurised measures to convince them to either transfer money to so called “safe accounts” or for the victims to physically withdraw money in readiness for the suspects collecting the money from their home addresses.

There have been instances where contact was re-instigated by the fraudsters a number of weeks after first contact.

STOP: Taking a moment to stop and think before parting with your money or information could keep you safe.

CHALLENGE: Could it be fake? It’s okay to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you.

PROTECT: If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online at police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.