Bogus caller warning in Lockerbie

Police are reminding members of the public to be aware of the dangers associated with bogus callers. The warning comes after several local residents have received calls from an international number by a person with an Indian accent claiming to be from Microsoft Windows. This person then asks if the individual is at their computer as they claim that someone has hacked into it. The caller passes over personal details of the individual, namely their name, address and date of birth in an attempt to appear genuine and glean further information from them.

Police advice is to simply not entertain these types of scam calls. Police recognise that those responsible will try all methods to catch you off guard, do not fall for high pressure techniques, aggressive or even overly friendly approaches from them. If you receive a call that starts to become that way just hang up. If you have elderly members of your family alert them that scam calls try to appear genuine to get further information or banking details from you.

Threatening, abusive or fraudulent calls are a crime and if we can trace the people responsible they will be reported. To do this we need as much information about the callers as possible, so if you receive any suspicious call take down as much detail about the caller as you can, such as name, company they claim to work for and their telephone number, terminate the call and then contact the police.

Under no circumstances give any personal or banking details to someone you do not know whether that be as a result of a phone call, or indeed email enquiries which purport to be from legitimate sources. Remember if something sounds too good to be true then it will in most cases be a scam of some description which will undoubtedly not be to your benefit regardless of the initial claims.

If someone claims to be from a company, visit the branch personally and ask them to send the information or request out in writing. Only deal with people and companies you fully know and trust and through an established contact method. If anyone has any concerns regarding these scam calls or their content please contact us on 0845 6005701 and we will be happy to offer advice and guidance.”