Police have renewed their appeal to local people to be aware of fraudsters using telephone and computer scams to obtain money from bank accounts.
The warning comes after more than 20 such frauds were reported in the Limavady area in the past two months.
Police have revealed some of the frauds involved “quite significant” sums of money and believe a gang of criminals is behind the incidents by exploiting a lack of knowledge by customers of banks and other financial institutions.
Chief Inspector Tony Callaghan, the Limavady Area Commander, said the themes of the approaches varied, but were generally aimed at getting people to disclose personal financial details such as PIN codes.
He added: “In many cases the callers say they are from certain banks or other financial institutions.
“A typical ploy is to claim that a suspicious transaction had been identified in a person’s bank account and that often leads on to persuading the individual to transfer money from a genuine account into an another account, which, of course, the fraudster controls.
“What we are saying is you get a call or email, do not give out financial details or agree to any transaction, and do not respond on email addresses or phone numbers provided by the caller.
“You can always check the legitimacy of any approach by contacting the named bank on a number you know to be genuine.
“It has been known for fraudsters to keep the telephone line open after their conversation so that when you make a call, you are talking to them again.
“Avoid this by first of all making a call to a family member or friend so that you can be sure the line is clear.
“Many banks also offer a 24-hour customer services telephone services. You should take the number from official bank statements.”
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