7am, north London...
Yeah, wait. Police! Open up.
...police are here to arrest a suspected fraudster.
Tell me about your involvement in this.
It's the police, can you let us in the block, please?
LOCK CLICKS Thank you.
Fraudsters steal billions every year.
They impersonate banks and even the police.
He was very caring.
All the time it was, "Please, don't worry."
They target the vulnerable - sometimes again and again.
They've been praying on her for nine years now.
They've befriended her and built up some sort of relationship with Mum.
It's estimated 40% of all crime in England and Wales is fraud.
Hello, it's the police, open up.
Fraud, it is a national security issue.
It's funding other organised crime.
You look back now and you think, how stupid were we?
Yeah. But at that moment in time, it was...
...it was quite terrifying.
Every year, fraudsters relieve us of an estimated £5 billion.
Last year in Kent alone, 12,000 frauds were reported.
Panorama's been filming there for almost a year
with the Kent Police Fraud Squad.
The groups that operate tend to be from London.
The whole of Kent, it is targeted because it's a quick journey
for them to come and pick up the cash.
We've also got quite an aged population, again,
which is who they look to target, often.
So it sort of just goes hand-in-hand with the sort of population type.
Police are increasingly worried about something
they call courier fraud.
It begins with a call from a fraudster pretending to be
a police officer or bank official,
and ends with a courier collecting cash or bank cards from your home.
When fraudsters called 90-year-old jean, she believed it was her bank.
I was in bed and the phone rang, so I scrambled to pick it up.
Ancl a voice said to me, "Have you had your debit card?"
Well, I had had a notice that my debit card was coming to me.
I was a bit perturbed so I said, "Well, no."
They said, "Oh, clear."
"Oh, clear, your card's been cancel led, in that case.
"You can't use it."
By chance, jean was already expecting a new card.
The fraudsters told her it had been lost in the post,
so they were cancelling her cards.
Jean was then asked if she'd like a new PIN number.
Ancl I said "No, I want my old number."
Without thinking, immediately said it, what my number was.
The scammers now had Jean's PIN number -
all they needed to complete the con was to convince her
to part with her card.
Put the phone down, two seconds later, the phone rang
and a woman's voice came and said,
"Good afternoon, yes, I'm here to help you."
Ancl she said, "We have to get your card back here.
"It so happens I've got a courier close by,
"they could come and collect it for me.
"Have the card ready in an envelope."
It sounded very official,
and I felt quite confident that the bank was behind me.
Jean handed over her debit card to the courier.
Within minutes, it was used to withdraw £400
in cash from her account.
The following morning, I went to pay the window cleaner
and I thought, "Oh, some money's gone from my bank."
At that point, then the penny dropped.
The fraudsters had also withdrawn £4,000 from her bank account,
after impersonating her on the phone.
It completely shook me and I said to myself,
you know, "Am I all right? Am I coping with life all right?"
Last summer, Kent Police received 140 reports of courier fraud.
Banks in England and Wales lost £120 million last year to
fraudsters impersonating police or other officials.
They normally target an area and hit it hard
and are making lots of calls because there will be a lot of people
that just realise it's a scam and won't engage.
Police investigating Jean's case are about to make an arrest.
They've identified a suspect whose bank account was used
to hold jean's £4,000.
This morning, we're going to execute a warrant under Section 8 of PACE
at an address around the corner and it's in regards to
fraud by false representation.
The suspect is what's known as a money mule.
Recruited by fraudsters, money mules agreed to allow the stolen cash
to be paid into their bank accounts.
What we're looking for is the mobile phones,
so we want to try and get their PIN code quite early on.
We can see that they will ring many people during one clay
in an attempt to try and con them.
So we will analyse that and you'll be able to see
when they've got someone on the hook.
The police hope the money mule's phone will provide evidence
to help identify others in the gang.
Intelligence on our systems we share with the Met,
linking this suspect with other frauds.
That's why we made the decision to execute the warrant today.
It's the police, can you let us in the block, please?
LOCK CLICKS Thank you.
KNOCK AT DOOR
Hello, it's the police, open up.
They're too late.
The suspect has already left for work.
We'll get her...
She works at a hospital nearby. We're going to phone her.
It's a bit disruptive for us to start going to a hospital.
A few days later, the suspect agrees to come in for questioning.
She denies being involved in fraud.
Tell me about your involvement in this.
OK, so... All I...
What happened is I was seeing someone... Mm-hm.
...and he said to me, "Oh, I don't have a bank account,
"my mate owes me money.
"Can I get it put in your account?
I said, "Yeah, how much?" He said, "4,000." I said, "Fine."
Then it all happened within like five minutes.
The money went in my account.
I transferred it to this other girl
and that's...that's literally pretty much all I know.
Money mules help to launder stolen cash.
By paying dirty money into legitimate bank accounts,
the money is instantly cleaned.
What we're seeing is that a lot of money mules are being recruited,
quite openly on online platforms.
It might often be younger people who are asked to do it,
and they might walk into it unwittingly and become a money mule,
so let their account be used for money-laundering.
The person that you were seeing, have you got a name for him?
He said his name's Dom. I did have a mobile number for him.
But he kept always calling on different numbers.
Do you know a surname for Dom? Not at all. No.
Police obtain CCTV footage showing a man believed to be Dom.
He's got 90-year-old Jean's bank card.
He's put the victim's bank card into the machine.
Put his hood up to cover his identity a little further.
He's entering the PIN into the machine.
That's a £250 withdrawal on this occasion.
Police are unable to identify the man
and their inquiry hits a dead end.
The suspected money mule is let off with a police warning.
Jean's case is closed.
With courier frauds, we initially look at:
is it happening now?
Is there an enforcement opportunity?
If that's not the case, our main focus is to try and support
the victim and try and get their money back through their banks.
Jean's bank has refunded all the money stolen by the fraudsters.
You know, it doesn't matter who you are, once you've been targeted,
it's quite likely they will target you again soon.
So I've been - tried to be very aware.
Nearly a million frauds were reported to police last
year in England and Wales,
but only around 5,300 people were convicted.
Goodness me.
Last year, Geoff and Jane were targeted by scammers
pretending to be the police.
A gentleman said that he was from the police,
he was a police inspector, and that money had been
taken from our account.
He was suggesting that it wanted to be investigated further.
The scammer said they wanted Geoff and Jane's help,
but what they didn't know was the real police were already onto them
and were also talking to Geoff and Jane.
They said, "You've been talking on the phone from a number
"that we've been tracing.
"This is a fraudster,"
and if we were willing to help them, then they might be able to
catch the people who were perpetrating these... Mm.
...these frauds.
A detective came to the house and was filming
when they got their next call from the scammers.
He was very, very...
...erm, I suppose, caring.
Mm. It was all the time, it was, "Please, don't worry,
"you're being brilliant, you're being a great help."
Jane and Geoff were told that not only were corrupt bank officials
stealing their money, they were also handling counterfeit notes.
The fraudsters told the couple there was a way to catch
the bent officials red-handed -
go to the bank and withdraw £5,000 in cash.
Right, 0|<.
So you just want me to put the phone down and not...
Leave the line open.
OK.
The offenders make sure that the victims keep their phone lines open
and the reason for that is the fact that they can't then be contacted
by genuine police officers and obviously family members
and it allows the complete control and coercion of the victims.
SHE SIGHS
Yeah.
Ooh, that's very true, yes.
Yeah, that would be a bit silly, wouldn't it?
THEY LAUGH
Jane and Geoff didn't go to the bank,
but under the watchful eye of the police,
played along with the counterfeit story,
reading out some made up serial numbers.
The fraudsters took the bait,
saying that many of the notes were fakes.
They sent a courier to pick them up.
SHE CHUCKLES
When the courier arrived, police told Jane and Geoff
not to answer the door.
They had the courier under surveillance.
As a result of the female courier being followed,
the investigation of that of fence is now being looked at
on a wider scale, with a series of similar of fences.
Geoff and Jane didn't lose any money but the police operation failed.
No-one's been arrested.
Fraudsters often operate across county borders,
so police forces must work together.
Panorama has been given access to a joint fraud special operations unit.
Officers from six forces are taking part.
Courier fraud is a massive issue, nationally.
The team I now represent
will look at the organised crime groups solely.
Criminals who are sophisticated in their methodology.
KNOCK AT DOOR
Police.
KNOCK AT DOOR
Yeah, wait. Yeah, open up.
We've got a warrant for your arrest,
for the premises to be searched.
Can you open up the door, please?
Hello, madam, we've got a warrant.
Police believe the woman's a courier who's been involved in frauds
worth almost £100,000.
She's 18 years old.
This female we've arrested today represents the courier -
the person that's going to the victims' addresses,
tasked by the person who controls her, to collect the cash.
She may get a small percentage of that money.
From our research, 5-10%, normally.
But if you look at it in the context of if she's picking up
£5,000 on average a time, or if not more,
that's £500 for probably a couple of hours work.
OK, let's start with the first of fence that occurred
on the 10th December 2021.
Collecting the cash makes the courier the most exposed
member of the criminal network.
By arresting her, police hope to identify others higher up.
She was interviewed twice and this is what she's got to say -
frustratingly, not a lot.
Tell me how you got there.
Police have nearly a dozen people who say they've handed money
to this courier.
Did you travel by taxi?
But the suspect isn't playing ball.
She went "no comment" throughout.
Come on.
Last summer, Jane and Mark were targeted by the same gang
police believe the courier was working for,
and they were using a familiar storyline.
A man claiming to be a police officer phoned Mark,
saying bank staff had stolen his savings.
Mark was initially suspicious.
He said, "Would you like to verify my credentials?"
I said, "Well...
"Yeah, because I really don't want to go any further with it."
The bogus police officer told Mark to check his identity
by hanging up and dialling 999.
I said, "I'd like to verify a warrant card."
She said, "Yes, what officer?"
So I gave the name, gave the warrant card.
"Yes, he is a police officer."
What Mark didn't realise was the scammers hadn't hung up
their side of the call.
They'd kept the line open and played a fake dialling tone,
so Mark thought he was ringing the police.
Well, at that point... We'd come together in the office, hadn't we?
Yeah. I was sort of saying, "What's going on?"
Mark said, "Come and help me,
"something's going on with our bank account."
I was like, "How much...how much have we lost, what are we talking?"
Ancl they said, "Well, we can't give you that detail
"but if you'd like to phone your own bank by using the number
"on the back of your bank card," so it all just seemed very genuine.
When Jane rang the bank, once again, the scammers had kept the line open.
Jane was taken in by the woman on the phone.
Ancl so she gradually started to go through all these transactions.
10,000 going to Nigeria and 10,000 to Spain.
We absolutely believed... We'd lost it.
...that we'd dialled 999. Yeah.
Ancl we absolutely believed we'd spoken to our bank.
Ancl so therefore you have absolutely no reason
to think that there was anything untoward going on.
I was actually, like, in tears at that point. Distraught.
Because I was saying, you know,
"They've taken everything that we've got."
We've ever worked for.
With Jane and Mark convinced their account had been cleaned out,
the fake police then told them they could help catch the crooks.
They said they'd pay £6,000 into Jane and Mark's account
and use it as bait.
Alljane and Mark had to do was withdraw it.
You look back now and you think, how stupid were we?
Yeah. But, at that moment in time, it was...
...it was quite terrifying.
Ancl it was very real. Ancl it was so real. Very, very real.
Ancl they were very, very convincing.
When they got home from the bank, the scammers were still on the line.
They said the money was most likely counterfeit
and could be used to arrest the corrupt bank staff.
That means now that we're sitting here with counterfeit money,
which then immediately made me feel a little bit uneasy
and they said, "Well, don't worry, we'll come and collect it from you."
A courier collected the £6,000.
Only afterwards did they realise they'd been scammed.
I took the dog out and I still had these warrant numbers
on a sheet of paper that I'd written down,
and I went to see my friend who is an ex police officer.
So I said, "Can you tell me, are these Met police warrant numbers?"
And he baked at me and he went, “No. what's up?“
Ancl at the same point... And he just said, "Mate, you've been done."
...as you came back in the door, I went, "|t was a scam",
and you said, "Yeah."
Police believe the courier who collected the money was
the 18-year-old arrested in north London.
Her case was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service nine months ago.
No decision has yet been made about charges.
Those higher up in the gang have not been caught.
Bringing justice to victims is really important.
But we recognise that we're not going to stop
courier fraud by just investigating it.
So improving awareness to the public so they protect themselves
online or on the phone, simple awareness messages.
Of course I know a good deal when I see one.
If you're the victim of fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland,
you're encouraged to report it to Action Fraud.
You wouldn't give your information to a stranger,
don't do it over the phone. For advice...
Action Fraud is run by City of London Police
on behalf of the Government.
It also aims to help the public avoid being scammed.
Hi, Mrs Walker? Yes?
Can you please tell me your password?
Normally you only ask for two digits.
But due to the nature of the circumstances,
I'm afraid we're going to have to go with a slightly higher security.
Action Fraud has just 95 staff at its call centre.
Last year, they received almost 1,000 crime reports a day.
Sir Bob Neill chairs the parliamentary committee
which has been looking at how fraud is handled.
There's increasing frustration with people that, when they report
fraud to Action Fraud at the moment, it really is a bit of a black hole.
Ancl there's no real care, it seemed to us, for victims of fraud.
Frankly, we concluded it wasn't fit for purpose.
Of the 30,000 crimes reported to Action Fraud each month,
only 1,500 are passed to police to investigate.
If we look at a case and it's just not solvable,
whether money has left the UK or for whatever reason,
we wouldn't necessarily send the case out to that police force
to investigate because they can't investigate it.
The second issue will be where we know clue to resources that
that local police force will only investigate a certain amount
within a certain criteria.
So we will hold back from sending out some of those cases as well.
In Kent, 12,000 reports were made to Action Fraud last year.
Just 500 were passed on to police.
So out of those 500, when we look at going
to the criminal justice system, around 4% is what we call
our detection rate, which means they ended up in charges
from the Crown Prosecution Service.
4% detection rate means just 20 possible court cases
from 12,000 complaints.
Action Fraud says it's planning improvements.
We are actually implementing new technology
for Action Fraud for 2024.
We need to be much better at explaining to victims
how the process works and what's happening with their cases.
Some people become repeat victims of fraud...
...likejo and Corinne's mum, Carol, who has dementia.
This is Mum's house.
Lived here since 1976.
That's quite nice, actually.
Certainly happy memories with Mum and Dad here. Yeah.
That don't look too good, that one, does it?
Dad took early retirement and lived life to the full.
Erm...
...and unfortunately, he died when he was 68.
Jo and Corinne's dad, Trevor, was an engineer and amateur racing driver.
When he died in 2012, Carol didn't have to worry about money.
He had a lovely pension to leave Mum and, you know,
they had a place in New Zealand that he sold just before he died
and there was a lot of money from that.
You know, she was set up.
But just a few years after her husband died,
Carol was targeted by fraudsters,
selling her fake investment schemes.
One of Mum's financial advisers was worried.
Mum had asked to release more money.
Ancl he was slightly worried about her behaviour.
When they looked through their mum's bank statements,
jo and Corinne were in for a shock.
She'd ended up on a fraudster's hit list
and had become the victim of repeated scams.
After reporting losses of more than £140,000,
her bank tried to get back some of her money.
November 2018.
2,500 recovered from 142,000.
Oh, that's unbelievable. Yeah.
Sick. Sick.
We're particularly concerned about investment scams
because often they involve life-changing sums of money.
The fraudsters work on the victim over a period of time.
So it's not just one investment,
and perhaps the victim might even see some return, initially.
But they are drawn into the scam,
so therefore get duped out of huge sums of money.
Another fraudster's been taking money from Carol for years.
He's told her she's investing her money in diamonds.
Again, her bank statements show the extent of the fraud.
This is one file we've found,
which Mum's been making monthly transfers to.
240, the 12th April.
The 20th April, 290.
Another one in May, 480.
It's every...every page that you look at is more payments.
They amount to between 1,500 and 2,000 a month.
Ancl this has been going on for about nine years.
All bank transfers.
So about 25,000 a year.
Ancl she's still received nothing.
Carol's still receiving calls from the fraudster,
who calls himself David.
She's already paid him at least £200,000.
But he wants more.
MESSAGE TONE BEEPS
David, that's all we know him as.
He's the one who phones Mum and asks her to pay by credit.
PHONE KEYPAD BEEPS
jo and Corinne have already reported David to the police,
but they're keeping in touch with him, hoping he'll give them
a clue that could help find him and their mum's stolen money.
Hello, David. It's Carol's daughter again.
Oh, hello, there. How are you doing, are you OK?
Yes. I was listening to your message on the answer machine.
I'm just a bit worried - you're not going to cancel
Mum's account, are you?
OK, thank you.
OK, David, thank you.
Thanks for that. Bye-bye. OK, bye-bye.
It's not just a one-off - they've been preying on her
for nine years now.
And that's what...
That's what makes it, you know, they've befriended her
and built up some sort of relationship with Mum.
Ancl she actually believes what they're saying.
You know? She does. That's the sad part.
Police discover that David's been calling from India.
That meansjo and Corinne have almost no chance
of recovering their mum's money.
Even when there is an investigation, it's quite common for that
investigation to reach an end of life cycle,
where money has left the UK, it's gone to a foreign jurisdiction that
we cannot access and unfortunately we cannot progress that case.
And that's very sad for us to tell that victim that
that investigation can't continue.
Police have had some successes in their fight against fraud.
Last year, a joint UK-US operation shut down a scammers' website
and arrested more than 100 people who'd been using it.
Since March 2020,
surveys suggest there's been a 25% rise in fraud in England and Wales.
In the same period, the number of convictions
dropped from around 11,000 to just over 6,000.
The rewards for the fraudsters are very significant
and very substantial because they are ruthless and organised people.
40% of all recorded crime, at least,
but only 2% of dedicated police resources.
That's a massive mismatch,
and that then feeds its way through into why there is
so little proactive work to prevent it
and why victims feel that they're almost forgotten about.
The sense that it's treated as a victimless crime.
The Government says it's committed to...
It says it's spent an extra £400 million on tackling economic crime,
and has plans to publish a fraud strategy
to "stop fraud attempts at source", and...
For the victims of fraud, the damage can be long lasting.
I can't believe that other human beings can do this to other humans.
|t's...it's the most unkindest, nastiest thing.
With so few fraud cases being solved,
those who've fallen prey to scams have a warning for all of us.
We didn't consider ourselves vulnerable but obviously we were.
But there's a lot more vulnerable than us.
So you just feel for everybody that's been through it.
We had no physical presence in the house but for a good
couple of months afterwards, it just felt like we'd been violated.