Police in Wigan have issued a warning after a man scammed a member of the public out of £7,500 by pretending to be a police officer.
There have been at least three occasions where the man in question has contacted people in the Wigan area, impersonating a police officer over the phone. After calling and asking about their finances, the scammer then tells the victim to withdraw a large amount of money, before giving instructions to meet and hand over the cash.
Unfortunately, police already know one victim has fallen foul to the scam, handing over £7,500 to the con artist. Two other potential victims phoned the police immediately after receiving the call, suspecting it to be part of a scam.
Officers from the Leigh, Atherton, and Hindley policing teams posted about the scam to warn others in the Wigan area. They said: "Over the past week or so we have dealt with 3 incidents where a male has contacted members of the public impersonating a police officer.
"The Bogus caller asks a series of questions about the victims finances then proceeds to ask them to withdraw a large sum of money, meet him and hand it over. We have reassured occupants of two addresses this morning who recognised this was Bogus and phoned the police immediately however the first incident we came across was a member of the public who fell victim to the scam and handed over £7500."
Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, encourages people to take some simple steps to protect themselves from being scammed, starting by refusing to give out personal data to any organisation that hasn't verified their identity. Before handing out information, people are encouraged to call the company through a trusted number to check whether the request is legitimate.
If you suspect you've been contacted by a scammer, you can contact police about the event through the GMP website, by contacting Action Fraud directly, or by calling 101. Alternatively, the independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 to report a crime.
