Scam Alert: Courier Fraud Is Targeting Over-70s — and Someone Actually Comes to Your Door

1. The courier fraud call

It starts with a phone call from someone claiming to be a police officer, a bank fraud investigator, or both. They tell you your account has been compromised, or that someone was arrested using your details and they need your help with an ongoing investigation. They sound calm, professional, and completely believable.

Then they ask you to do something: withdraw a large amount of cash, or go to a jeweller and buy gold. They'll tell you to keep it quiet — not to tell family, not to tell the branch staff what it's for, because "the bank might be involved." In some cases reported by Leicestershire Police, victims visited multiple jewellers over several days while staying on the phone to the scammer the entire time.

Once you have the cash or gold, a courier (or sometimes a "police officer" or taxi driver) arrives at your front door to collect it. They might show what looks like a badge. You hand everything over. That's it — the money or jewellery is gone.

People aged between 76 and 96 make up around 62% of all reports. The scammers know exactly who they're targeting.

The rule: no police officer or bank fraud team will ever ask you to withdraw cash, buy gold, or hand anything over to a courier. Not ever, for any reason. If that's what someone is asking, hang up immediately. Wait a few minutes before calling anyone back — scammers can hold a line open — then use a different phone or call 159 (the Stop Scams UK line) to speak to your bank safely.

2. The "your iPhone has been hacked" pop-up

This one showed up in Which?'s latest scam tracker this week. You click a link — often from social media or a dodgy email — and a pop-up fills your screen claiming your device has been hacked, your data is being stolen, and you need to act immediately. Some versions play an alarm sound. Some lock the browser so you can't easily close it.

If you press any of the buttons it presents, you'll either be taken to a phishing site that asks for personal details, or prompted to download something that installs malware.

Apple never communicates security warnings through your browser. This is not a real alert from anyone. Close the tab. On a phone, force-quit the browser if it won't close normally. That's all you need to do — no call, no download, no form to fill in.

If the pop-up won't close and is playing audio, put your phone face-down, take a breath, and then force-close the app from the app switcher. Nothing on that screen is real.