Scam callers posing as police

It's a scam which has been around for a while, but is rearing its head again, with added twists to fool you.

Surrey Police is warning residents of fraudsters calling the public from a number claiming to be the non-emergency 101 number. It then tells the victim to google a number which confirms the number belongs to Surrey Police, which it appears to do.

Scammers use spoofing software to imitate a different caller ID so when it shows up on your phone, you don't think anything is wrong.

The goal for the scammers is to trick you into passing over sensitive data or to transfer money.

The fake police scam is not new, but because it comes and goes it can cause people to forget that it may not be legitimate. Lincolnshire Police recently posted something similar, saying locals had received calls from someone claiming to be from the Metropolitan Police.

The advice from Surrey Police is that police will never call out of the blue asking for personal information, or to ask you to withdraw money or valuables as part of an investigation - take their details, call 101 and verify their identity.