Elderly bank fraud

Man wanted in connection with fraud

Police are looking for a gang of fraudsters who are believed to have conned more than 100 elderly people into handing over their cash cards and PIN details. They are so far believed to have extorted up to £200,000 in total with some of their victims losing more than £12,000.

The group have targeted pensioners in Redbridge, Barking, Dagenham, Havering, Waltham Forest, Newham, Edmonton, Barnet, Sutton and Essex.

Members of the group contact victims posing as police officers investigating fraudulent activity on their bank card. They sometimes call on more than one occasion to gain trust before attending their homes in 'plain clothes' to collect the victim's bank card and PIN.

Kamal Kant

The group tell the victims that they need to run the cards through a machine at Scotland Yard to identify the parties responsible for the fraud. The victim is occasionally given a reference number or codeword, or asked to place their card in an envelope and write the pin number on a slip of paper. They are told not to speak to anyone about the incident as it would jeopardise the investigation.

Once the card and PIN details are obtained, these are then used, often continuously over a number of days at various retail outlets and betting shops. The offenders have also been known to contact the same victims at a later stage to try to obtain their new card details.

In November 2008, an 88-year-old woman from Redbridge was telephoned on a number of occasions by a man purporting to be a police officer, claiming her card was being used fraudulently. Having gained her trust, a man visited her house and collected her card. Over a ten day period, £12,336 was stolen from the woman's bank account.

On another occasion, two suspects took £25,000 from a victim over a two-day period. More recently, a group of suspects were responsible for obtaining in excess of £70,000 from three different victims.

The gang consists of men and women, and although the majority are in their late teens/ twenties some of the more recent occurrences have involved older men. Suspects conspire together to carry out the scams.

Kashif Nawaz

Police have released CCTV images of senen people using the stolen cards that they need to identify. They also need to trace two named suspects who are believed to be involved in the con itself. They have been identified as 25-year-old Kamal Kant and 32-year-old Kashif Nawaz. Both have links to Ilford, Barking and Barkingside and are known to frequent bookmakers.

If you feel you have been a victim of this type of crime, or are contacted by anyone who uses the methods we have described, alert police immediately.

Your bank would be the first organisation to contact you if they suspect you are a victim of credit card fraud. You should always request and verify the identification of any person who calls at your door that you do not know. Any police officer who calls at an address would always be in possession of a warrant card.

Wanted suspects

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