Quick-thinking relative stops Kenilworth resident losing thousands of pounds by stopping at scam at the very last minute

A quick-thinking relative stopped a Kenilworth resident losing thousands of pounds by stopping at scam at the very last minute.

And now police want others to be aware of the trick.

The scam starts with a telephone caller saying they are from Amazon. The caller says that Amazon has mistakenly transferred a significant sum of money into the householder's bank account and that it needs to be paid back promptly. The caller then decides which way is best to try and get the householder to pay the money over.

In this case the caller asked the householder to make out a cheque for the bogus amount and they would arrange for a courier to pick it up. The householder made out the cheque and as the courier arrived so did a relative of the householder. The relative immediately called the police, stopped the cheque being handed over and the courier made off.

A Kenilworth Watch spokesperson said “People need to understand that in some cases those calling unsuspecting householders may already have some information about the person they are calling. This makes things sound all the more plausible to the person receiving the call and makes it easier for the criminal carrying out the scam.”