Police are urging residents to be vigilant and wary following a number of reports of scam phone calls, particularly in the Marlborough area.
Residents have reported receiving a call from a man purporting to be a police officer who advises they are investigating a fraudulent use on their bank card which has been cloned.
The ‘officer’ advises the victim that a high value transaction is about to take place on their account and in order to detect who the offender is, the victim is asked to make a high value transaction as soon as they can so that their bank card is blocked.
The item they are instructed to buy is usually a high value watch and the ‘officer’ tells the victim they are watching a particular jewellers for the suspect.
They obtain the victim’s address and instruct them that a member of police staff will be round to collect the item they have just purchased as evidence.
On one occasion, a man aged in his 50s in Marlborough purchased a high value Rolex watch before realising this was a scam and reported it to police immediately.
Local crime investigator Roz Hadden said: “Our control room has received a number of calls from people reporting to have had calls of this nature. Please be aware that this is a scam, even though those on the other end of the phone may sound convincing, police officers would never cold call residents in this way.
“Please could we ask that you talk to your elderly relatives or neighbours so they are aware of this scam.
“If you receive a call of this nature hang up immediately. You can report incidents to police on 101 and Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.”