The Royal Gibraltar Police are warning local businesses and the public to be on their guard following an increase in telephone scams over the past week.

Six businesses have so far been targeted by fraudsters – with one reporting fraudulent transactions of over £1,000,000.

Detectives from the RGP’s Economic Crime Unit are now investigating several cases of fraud and want to raise awareness to prevent more businesses from becoming victims.

In a report made to police only yesterday, a business noticed several unauthorised transactions from their local bank account – totalling over one million pounds.

The company had been phoned last week by a man claiming to be from their bank’s International Fraud Department.

The caller stated there were fraudulent transactions that needed to be stopped and requested to use a Team Viewer type programme to halt the transactions – the business realised later that they had been scammed.

In another incident last Friday, a local company received a call from someone pretending to be a staff member at their local bank. The caller attempted to mislead them by alleging that some unusual transactions had taken place and that they needed remote access to their systems. The staff member initially agreed, but then became suspicious and contacted the bank, who confirmed the caller was a scammer. On this occasion, no money was lost. 

Two further businesses have today (Tuesday 16 July) reported to the RGP that they were contacted by fraudsters, with one reporting losses of £45,000 and the other reporting over 70 fraudulent transactions.

An RGP spokesman said: “We have been informed that in recent days, a number of phishing telephone scams were received by clients of local banks.

“The fraudsters were calling local clients, with either a withheld number, or with a local Gibraltar number that matched their bank’s telephone number. They were pretending to be someone from the bank or Police.

“The fraudsters try to trick you into you providing your banking or personal details, or to get you to click on a link to a fraudulent site.

“Neither your bank or the police will ask you for your personal banking information, your username or password. They will never request you to give them access to your online banking app or ask you to click on any links on-line. Furthermore, they will never ask you to transfer money to another account.

“Scammers are always developing new ways to obtain your personal data, so please don’t fall foul of their scams. If you believe you are a victim of fraud, hang up the phone, call your bank and report it to the RGP.”

In the most recent scams, victims have stated: 

• A “Michael Young” calls them to discuss a payment they have entered via their banking app 

• He advises them that he is calling from their local bank – and the number displayed is the same as their local bank.

• The individual making the calls also provides a “staff number.”

• The fraudster has also contacted Gibraltar businesses to advise them to log into their computer via TeamViewer so he can help them with the transaction. 

• Six businesses have been asked to hand over their username/passwords in the past week – two of whom suffered a loss of money.

RGP Economic Crime Detectives are now working with the Gibraltar Financial Intelligence Unit and local banks in an attempt to recover funds.

To report fraud to the RGP, call our Control Room on 200 72500 or report online at www.police.gi/report-online