Notice from Kent Police

Over the last couple of days Kent police have received various calls from Swale residents reporting that they have received phone calls from someone claiming to be a police officer. They give a fake police officer name and force number and state they are part of the Economical Crime Team at Sittingbourne Police Station (There isn’t such a department). They claim there have been some irregularities spotted within the bank account of the person they are calling before requesting the person hangs up and calls the police. The criminal pretending to be a police officer will keep the line open their end and when the poor victim calls 999, they will pretend to be a police call taker where they then ask for the victim’s bank details.

This type of crime is highly sophisticated, and the criminals are well trained in what they are doing. Please can you all spread this message far and wide and if there is anyone with access to local Facebook Village pages, please can you ask they publish this on there so we can warn as many people of this scam and prevent people becoming a victim of this. There have now been 10 calls from Swale residents today alone and these are only those reporting it; there will be many more and unfortunately it is quite often that those who become victims of this type of crime don’t report it through embarrassment. The calls have thus far very much been targeting the elderly and the pattern appear to be alphabetical through the phone book for those with Swale addresses.

Please feel free to attach the below link to any post you can send out of which details what to do if you are unsure as to whether the person calling you is a genuine police officer.

https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/fa/how-to-check-an-officers-identity/#:~:text=How%20to%20check,123%202040.

Thank you all for your assistance with this.