POLICE efforts to educate Islanders about scams and to investigate fraudsters conning vulnerable people out of their life savings are paying off, as the force has seen a “steep decline” in cases.
Detective Inspector Aiden Quenault, from the States police’s Joint Financial Crime Unit, added that “close working with banks” to install preventative measures had also contributed to the decline.
Several months ago, police chief Robin Smith announced a major new crackdown on fraudsters as the Joint Financial Crimes Unit was investigating a “spoofing” scam – where criminals impersonate banks – in which 68 victims across the Channel Islands lost a total of more than £2 million.
Mr Smith met representatives from banks, telecom companies and other agencies to consider techniques such as using AI to identify fraudsters and stop unwanted calls, circulating warnings more quickly, “killing” scam numbers and setting up an incident room which mobilises at short notice and deals with new trends more quickly.
One lawyer, who has lived in Jersey for several years, told the JEP that she was “distraught” to have lost £13,000 to the scam.
And earlier this month, a 33-year-old teacher contacted the JEP to say that a fraudster impersonating her bank had transferred £14,950 of her savings, in two payments, to another account.
But despite those individual cases, the police say their work is starting to have an effect and that the numbers of reported scams are dropping.
Det Insp Quenault said: “Over the past months, there has been a steep decline in reports from Islanders of text message scams, purporting to be from highstreet banks.
“The police activity in investigating the offences, alongside the large amount of work in educating the public about the risk of scams, has definitely had an impact, as has the close working with the banks, to ensure preventative measures are taken.”
He added: “The investigation into those cases where victims have lost money to such scams continues, and the States of Jersey Police Joint Financial Crime Unit is working in partnership with the City of London Police and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to identify and prosecute offenders.
“This type of offence, on this scale, is typically committed by organised crime groups who target victims from many different countries.”
He added that “strong progress” was being made to find a “collaborative solution” to the issue of scams, as telecom companies and banks continued to work with police.
Nevertheless, he continued: “We urge Islanders to be vigilant to text messages and other communications, which could be from scammers, asking for sensitive information such as passwords or two-factor authentication codes. If in doubt, contact your bank directly.”
