A WARNING has been issued to residents after fraudsters attempted to con a man out of £5,000.

The scam involves conmen, who are claiming to represent the National Crime Agency (NCA), cold-calling people and telling them that their computer has been hacked. They then ask victims to transfer money to or from accounts abroad.

On Thursday, 18 January Hampshire Constabulary received a report from a 92-year-old man from Basingstoke who had been contacted by the scammers.

The man said he had been called by a man who claimed to work for the NCA. The caller said the man’s computer had been hacked, and he got him to log in to his online banking.

The caller then transferred £5,000 to the victim’s account and asked the victim to withdraw the majority of that total and transfer it to a foreign bank account via a bureau de change in Basingstoke.

Fortunately, staff at the branch refused to carry out the transfer due to the large amount of money. The victim later became suspicious of the caller’s requests and the matter was reported to the police.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary said: “We would like remind people that officers from law enforcement agencies, whether they’re from the NCA or Hampshire Constabulary, or even the Crown Prosecution Service or a judge, will never contact you in this way.

“Genuine officers will never ask you for remote access to your computer, will never ask you for personal details like passwords or account numbers and will not ask you to transfer money via phone, email or in person.”

Police have issued the following advice to make sure residents are protected from potential fraudsters:

• if someone calls you claiming to be a police officer and ask for money, hang up.
• if you want to check if they are a genuine police officer, ask for their name and collar number, hang up, and call 101 from a different telephone.
• never give personal or bank account details to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly.
• never tell anyone your PIN number.
• if you have given out information which could compromise your bank security in any way, call your bank to cancel your cards as soon as possible.
• never hand over your card, money or valuables to someone at the door to be sent off elsewhere.

Anyone who is concerned about a similar incident should call 101. If a crime is in progress, dial 999.