Police have issued a warning to the public following reports of several vishing incidents across Fife.
Two recent incidents have resulted in a business in Markinch being targeted for £34,000, while an elderly lady from the Glenrothes area has had more than £600 stolen.
In both these cases the perpetrators pretended to be either banks or IT services companies looking to help the victims.
A further incident happened in the last month in Kirkcaldy when someone was called by scammers pretending to be from HMRC.
This resulted in the theft of £2,000 from their account.
Officers are now issuing a warning to the public and are tackling this issue through Operation Principle, Fife Division’s response to acquisitive crime.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott Cunningham said: “Those who perpetrate vishing scams claim to be from legitimate organisations to obtain personal or bank details.
“My message is to always be wary of callers requesting personal information as they can be very convincing and try to take advantage of people’s fears and vulnerabilities.”
He said if this happens, recipients should advise the caller that they will contact the company to discuss this and hang up.
“Find their phone number from their official website and call them back on a different phone to verify this.
“These people often target the elderly and vulnerable so please advise any friends, neighbours or relatives to be wary of these types of calls.
“Operation Principle will be actively targeting his type of criminality over the coming days and weeks and would encourage anyone seeking advice on this issue to make contact with police,” he said.
Signpost to Safety leaflets are available from any Fife police station.
Anyone with information about vishing can contact Police Scotland on 101 or make an anonymous report through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
