The consumer is told their local bank branch is being investigated for fraud by issuing fake bank notes and staff are suspected of being complicit.
Fraudsters are scamming consumers by impersonating the police or the fraud team within banks over the phone, UK Finance has warned.
The consumer is told their local bank branch is being investigated for fraud by issuing fake bank notes and staff are likely to be complicit.
They are then asked to withdraw thousands of pounds of the supposedly counterfeit cash for analysis.
In another version of the scam the criminal convinces the victim to transfer money to a so-called ‘safe account’ to protect their funds from the ‘corrupt’ bank staff.
Katy Worobec, head of fraud and financial crime prevention, cyber and data sharing at UK Finance, said: “This is a particularly nasty scam as it plays on people’s public-spirited nature to assist the police.
“We are receiving a growing number of reports of it occurring, with people often losing large amounts of money, so it’s vital that everyone is aware.
“Remember, the police will never ask you to withdraw money and hand it over to them for safe-keeping.”
Neither the police nor banks would ever ask members of the public to become part of an anti-fraud operation or to transfer money to a ‘safe account’ for fraud reasons.
