1. “COURIER Fraudsters”
are being hunted down
by Leicestershire Police
after two people in
North West
Leicestershire have fall-
en victim of a new scam.
Officers are appealing for infor-
mation about the scam, Courier
Fraud, which involves phone calls
to the victim by someone claiming
to be a worker at their bank, or a
police officer.
The two offences, as well as
another which took place in
Rutland, each resulted in the loss
of between £200 and £1,100.
Detective Sergeant Mark Tuttle,
of Leicestershire Police’s Economic
Crime Unit, said: “We started to
see cases like this in August last
year and I would strongly urge the
public to be on their guard.
“Banks will never ask you for
passwords, never call at your
home, and the police and banks
will never collect bank cards from
you or ask for your personal iden-
tity number.
“If you receive one of these
calls end it immediately, wait
five minutes to clear the line
or phone from a friend’s house
or mobile.
“We have been in contact with
taxi and private hire companies
as the fraudsters have used them
as unwitting couriers, and work
has also been undertaken within
the telecommunications industry
to reduce the amount of time a call
will stay live once one of the par-
ties has hung up.”
The caller says that there have
been irregularities with their bank
accounts and the victim is invited
to hang up, phone their bank, and
then the “bank” arranges for a taxi
courier to come and collect their
bank cards.
The victim never gets through to
their bank and the fraudster does
not hang up, meaning the line
stays open.
The fraudster then passes their
phone to a colleague, who poses as
a worker at the victim’s bank.
This second fraudster gives the
victim confidence to divulge their
passwords and PIN numbers and
hand their cards over to the taxi
driver or the person acting as a
courier.
Councillor John Legrys, who
represents Coalville on North
West Leicestershire District
Council, said: “Banks never ask for
this information over the phone
and people have to be aware of
that.
“These fraudsters are targeting
the elderly and vulnerable people
and it’s good that the authorities
are cracking down, but they can
only do it if people report it.
“There are a lot of people out
there who think these calls are
true and it is hard to tell, but peo-
ple have to be aware of this going
on.”
Anyone with information in
relation to this appeal should
telephone 101 or contact
Crimestoppers, anonymously, on
0800 555 111.
Friday, June 13, 2014 No. 6177 EST: 1893 PRICE: 51p
Coalville Times
Telephone:01530813101email:editor@coalvilletimes.com reception@coalvilletimes.com advertising@coalvilletimes.com
POLICEHUNTONAFTERLATESTSCAMSEESVICTIMS11-year-oldElise
hasmouthtaped
upbyteacherat
secondaryschool
A FORMER head girl has had her
mouth taped up with Sellotape at a
Swadlincote secondary school to
stop her and her classmates from
talking in lesson.
11-year-old Elise Smith, from
Woodville, was made to sit with
Sellotape over her mouth by a
teacher at The William Allitt
School, In Sunnyside, who repeat-
edly asked the class to stop talking,
in December last year.
Elise, who is in her first year at
the school and was a former head
girl at her primary school, kept the
tape on her mouth for 15 minutes.
Elise’s mother and father have
complained to the school, which
has recently been placed under
special measures, Derbyshire
County Council and Ofsted about
the incident.
Becky Smith, Elise’s mother,
said: “We are really disappointed
with what has taken place and feel
let down by the school.
“Elise is a very hard-working
girl, always reaching and going
above her predicted targets and
would never cause any trouble.
“We chose William Allitt because
of its good reputation and thought
it would give Elise the best start in
life.
“Starting secondary school is a
very daunting experience, especial-
ly when most of her friends went to
other, closer schools, so for this to
happen is really shocking for all of
us.
“You can’t lay a finger on chil-
dren these days and those protec-
tions are in place to stop these
things from happening.
“We will continue to fight this.”
William Allitt School has confirmed
the incident took place and has
worked alongside the county coun-
cil to carry out an investigation.
Jean Mead, chair of governors at
The William Allitt School, said:
“The welfare of pupils is always
our top priority.
“This was a misguided action
rather than a malicious one.
“It happened in December last
year.
“It shouldn’t have taken place
under any circumstances, the
teacher immediately regretted his
actions and apologised.
“We worked alongside the local
authority to carry out a thorough
investigation and appropriate
action was taken.”
After an inspection of the school
by Ofsted, in May, William Allitt
was placed under special measures
after their ranking dropped from
satisfactory to inadequate.
By NICK REID
EBAY...
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SUCCESS
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ROBBEDBY
COURIER
FRAUDSTERS
TIMES POSTBOX PAGE 16 & 17 LEISURE TIMES PAGES 19-26 TIMES SPORT PAGES 36-40
John Legrys
65940
Telephone
01283 550955
www.autocar-swadlincote.co.uk
AutocarHearthcote Road
Swadlincote
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