A brazen scam in which ruthless fraudsters are conning elderly victims out of their life savings has led to a renewed warning from Haringey police.

Courier fraud has hit every London borough, claiming 2,229 victims, mostly elderly, in two years. Since January 2011, 130 such fraudsters in London have been arrested and 93 charged, including two brothers who conned 200 victims out of almost a quarter of a million.

The Metropolitan Police held a London-wide courier fraud awareness day last month, with officers in Haringey working to heighten awareness of crime prevention measures.

But the fraudsters continue to strike, usually telephoning their victim claiming to be a member of an authority, often the police, bank or serious fraud office. They then inform the individual that their bank account has been hacked and their bank card must be collected.

They then gain their target’s trust by asking them to call the authority on a genuine number, but while the victim dials the number the fraudster does not hang up. The victim is stills speaking to the suspect, or to a co-conspirator.

The suspect then convinced their target to dial their pin into the keypad, before sending a courier to collect the card – and emptying their victim’s account.

The MPS has identified that organised criminal groups (OCGs) are behind the fraud but despite arresting many of these across London, courier fraud is continuing as new OCGs take over and convince victims that they are genuine.

Police are repeating advice to help stop Londoners becoming victims by showing them how the fraud works and teaching them the key crime prevention pointers. These are:

Police and banks will never ask for your PIN or bank card

Never give your PIN or bank card to anyone

If you are contacted by someone who asks for your PIN or bank card, hang up

Use a different line to report it to police on 101 or allow at least five minutes for the line to automatically clear. Call 999 if the crime is in action.

Police are asking friends and family of the elderly to share the crime prevention advice.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Trevers of Haringey CID said: “Courier fraudsters take the time to be convincing because the pay-off can be huge, but we are working to catch them.

“We ask people to warn their elderly friends and relatives of this scam and most importantly to remember that police and banks will never ask for your PIN or bank card, so you should never give these to anyone.”

Ham and High