DYFED-POWYS Police has warned members of the pubic about fraudsters who are contacting people, usually by phone, purporting to be from the police, or in some cases the fraud team within their bank.

The criminal claims they are investigating a fraud at a local bank branch where staff are suspected of being complicit, including issuing fake bank notes, and asks their target to help in the operation.

As part of the scam, the individual is requested to visit the branch and withdraw a substantial sum, often thousands of pounds, of the supposedly counterfeit cash to hand over to the ‘police’ for ‘analysis’.

The victim is assured that the money will be deposited back into their account after the operation is complete.

However, once the money is passed over the fraudster disappears with the cash.

The criminal instructs their victim not to discuss the case with anyone in the branch, giving them plausible explanations as to why they are withdrawing the money.

As a result, despite being questioned by the bank staff, the victim takes out the cash, convinced that the staff are part of a fraud.

In another version of the scam, the criminal convinces the victim to transfer money to a so-called ‘safe account’ to protect their funds from the ‘corrupt’ bank staff.

However, the account is in fact controlled by the criminal.

All customers are reminded that the police and banks will never ask members of the public to become part of an anti-fraud operation or to transfer money to a ‘safe account’ for fraud reasons.

Paul Callard, financial crime team manager for Dyfed-Powys Police, said: “Scams like these have such a negative impact on victims. I would urge people to please act with caution if approached by these types of scamsters. If in doubt, hang up and ring police on 101.”See this week's south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now