Someone is coming to collect my bank card — is that genuine?

Courier fraud is a scripted, patient crime. The caller says they are from the police or your bank's fraud department, that there is corruption at your local branch or a counterfeit note investigation, and that you must help by cooperating in secret. It runs over hours or days, and it ends with a taxi driver or a stranger at the door.

Safety

Step by step

1. Learn the four absolutes.Nobody legitimate sends a courier for your card, cash or valuables. Nobody legitimate asks for your PIN, over the phone or at the door. Nobody legitimate asks you to withdraw money or buy gold or vouchers as part of an investigation. Nobody legitimate asks you to keep it secret from your family or your branch staff.
2. Hang up, and do not call back on the same line.The classic version tells you to ring 999 to verify, then keeps the line open so you reach the same person. On a landline that is a real risk, so wait five minutes for the line to clear, or use a mobile or a neighbour's phone.
3. Dial 159, or 101.159 connects you securely to your own bank where the bank and the network take part. 101 reaches the police. Neither can be intercepted the way a call back to a number they gave you can.
4. Tell the bank branch what you were asked to do.Branch staff are trained on this under the Banking Protocol and can stop a withdrawal and call the police while you are standing there. Being asked to keep the branch out of it is itself the proof.
5. Refuse the secrecy.Every version of this instructs the victim not to tell family or staff, on the grounds that they may be involved. That instruction exists for one reason: the fraud fails the moment anyone else hears about it.
6. Never hand anything to anyone at the door.If someone arrives, do not open the door. Ring 999 and say a courier fraud is in progress at your address — police forces treat a live collection as an immediate response.
7. Report it either way.Action Fraud, or Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland, whether or not you lost anything. Attempted courier fraud reports are used to warn the neighbourhood.
8. Have the conversation with older relatives now.The script is unfamiliar, so the defence has to be prepared. One sentence is enough: the police and the bank never send anyone to your door, and hanging up is always allowed.

Tips

• The caller often asks the victim to check the number on the back of the card against the caller ID showing on the phone. Caller ID can be set to any number, so this proves nothing — and the fact that they suggest it is itself a warning.
• Some versions ask the victim to "assist an investigation" by buying high-value items or gold to be collected. The story is elaborate precisely because the request is absurd.
• A cheap deterrent for a vulnerable relative is a call blocker that screens unknown numbers, plus asking their bank to add a note about telephone banking limits.

Common mistakes

• Ringing back on the number the caller supplied — It reaches the same operation, and they answer with the organisation's name.
• Believing a caller who quotes your address, card type or recent transactions — Details come from breaches, bins and earlier phishing. Knowing them is cheap and is used deliberately to buy trust.
• Assuming a uniform or an ID card at the door means anything — Both are trivially obtained. Real officers will wait outside while you ring 101 to confirm them.

Questions people ask