One woman foils police impersonators

On the 21st August our Lee Burton reported news of Police Impersonators to raise awareness in the UK that scammers are telephoning residents claiming to be police officers and informing them their identity has been stolen.

Impersonating police carries a sentence of 6 months

One Woman Tells Scammers just what she Thinks

Ann Turtle, from Orleton in Herefordshire was telephoned by a police impersonator claiming to be "Detective Mason" who informed Ann that he had arrested someone in London who had cloned her card. Ann just so happens to have a son who is an official police officer. When Detective Mason requested that Ann telephone 999 and ask for the police verification department, Ann knew this was a con. She told Detective Mason exactly what she thought and hung up the telephone.

Many scam operations are large and well organised

How were the scammers going to get fake verification?

If Ann had telephoned 999, the scammers would have simply kept the line open, transferred Ann to another person and confirmed the fake identity. Detective Mason would have telephoned back and the scam would have proceeded as planned.

For more information please view the original story reported by the BBC