Beware: fraud gangs are posing as court officials to fleece small businesses

Beware: fraud gangs are posing as court officials to fleece small businesses

A huge hole in banking security and a perfectly pitched scam phone call have combined to defraud a small businessman.

The caller claimed to be a court enforcement officer and warned Daniel Bartlette that a case was about to be heard concerning a debt that he owed of almost £3,000.

He was told that bailiffs would be sent to his home unless he paid that afternoon.

The call was made at 4pm, with Daniel being told that he had until 5pm to act. He just had time to carry out some basic checks.

The caller used the name Stephen King. Daniel searched an online register and found that he was indeed registered as a court enforcement officer.

The alleged debt concerned an online business directory that Daniel had apparently agreed to appear in, inadvertently signing himself up to a subscription which he hadn’t been paying, which sounded all too plausible.

What’s more, the caller did his best to sound helpful in the 45-minute conversation, telling Daniel “he’d seen lots of cases like this and he was phoning to check if we knew about it as there was no correspondence from us in the evidence”.

Finally, Daniel was reassured by being told to transfer the money into an account in the name of Worcester Court.

For full article available: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/beware-fraud-gangs-posing-court-11290573