Company conned into transferring money from caller claiming to be from bank

A 32-year old man from Chiswick has been arrested by police investigating a million pound fraud.

Police said that on Wednesday 16 September, a Suffolk company was conned into handing over more than a million pounds by a plausible bogus caller who contacted staff, told them there was a virus on the firm’s internet banking facility and advised that money in the company accounts should be transferred into separate holding accounts whilst the bank rectified the issue.

During the call the suspect managed to disguise his own telephone number to show the number of the bank’s fraud team which was on their web site.

The caller managed to gain the staff member’s trust and instructed them to download remote access software on the firm’s computer. This enabled the suspect to access the internet banking and transfer money from the company’s account.

Yesterday, Monday 28 September, Suffolk Police officers investigating the fraud the man in connection with the incident. He was taken into custody in London and interviewed by detectives. He has now been bailed to return to police on 25 November, pending further enquiries.

Officers are renewing a warning for callers to be alert and are reminding individuals and businesses that neither banks or police will not ask you to transfer or handover sums of money and you should never give out details of bank accounts, PINs or personal information. If you receive contact from an unknown caller stop and think for a moment.

Be suspicious particularly if they are telling you something is wrong or that you need to send or handover money. If you suspect you may be the victim of a bogus call hang up and leave the phone down for at least ten minutes or use another phone before contacting anyone else.

Don’t be afraid to hang up on unknown callers. Genuine callers will understand if you want to call them back later, after checking existing paperwork to confirm numbers, to check their identity.

Anyone who may has any concerns regarding this type of incident or who has been a victim are asked to report this to police or Action Fraud - the National Fraud Reporting centre on 0300 123 2040.

September 29, 2015