Beware of fraudsters posing as police officers

The police are currently investigating a number of reports including an attempted theft which happened on Wednesday, May 2) in an area of Arnold, Nottinghamshire.

At about noon a man knocked on a door of a house saying he was a police officer from the Metropolitan Police. He showed the woman a fake identity card with his photo on it.

He asked her if she would help in a police investigation in order to catch a criminal who was in the area.

He told the woman that this criminal would knock on her door and tell her that she needed some work doing and that she should agree and pay the man £1,800. He told her that she would need to go to the bank with him to withdraw the money in order to pay the criminal.

At this point the woman became suspicious of the man but before she could ask him to leave there was a knock at the door. A second man had arrived and told her she needed some work doing to her roof.

The victim said she wasn’t sure and would need to think about it at which point both men left and she called 101.

One of the men is white, aged 28-32 and about 5ft 10ins tall. He was wearing a white shirt with buttons on the collars, a black Nike baseball cap, black jeans and shiny black shoes.

The second man who called at her home is white, aged in his late 20s and around 5ft 8ins tall. He was wearing a high visibility jacket, dark jeans and black and white trainers. He also had a black baseball cap on.

If anyone saw these two men in the Gleneagles Drive area of Arnold or has any other information call 101, quoting incident number 313 of May 2.

PC Kulvinder Dosanjh, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “A genuine police officer would never ask you to hand over money, would never ask for your bank details and would never ask for items to be left out for them to retrieve.

“We’d urge people to always ask for ID if someone calls at your home and if you are in any doubt or have any concerns please call the control room on 101 and ask to be put through to an officer for confirmation.

“We’d also appeal to people to look after their elderly neighbours, friends and family. Remind them to be vigilant and make them aware of these particular scams.

“People should make sure they keep their front and back doors locked, even when they’re at home. If you decide to open the door put the chain or door bar on first, if you have one, and keep the chain or bar on while you’re talking to the caller.”

For more advice on dealing with unexpected callers at your home visit www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/advice/prevention/distraction.