Cheshire Police ‘warning’ over bogus bank letters telling people their debit card could burst into flames

Cheshire Police have posted a picture of a letter purporting to be from Barclays Bank claiming there is an ‘urgent recall’ of debit cards as a “precushion”  after customers “reported” theirs had set on fire.

The letter – which is littered with spelling mistakes – has been sent from a ‘Mr Smith’ who’s address is ‘Barclays Debit Card Factory in Bangalore, India.

It claims the cards could create a “pocket fire” at any moment “burning your legs and stomach terribly.”

The letter asks cardholders to fill in a form and send it back with their debit card, it states:

 

“Dear costumer [sic] 

Many of our bank costumers have reported that their debit cards have caught fire while they are in wallets and purses, and so as a precushion [sic] we are issuing an URGENT safety recall.

This is a matter of the uppermost emergency as your card could create a pocket fire at any given moment, burning your legs and stomach terribly.

This is because of a fault in the factory process at our debit card factory in Molton [sic] Keynes.

Therefore, for your own safety and verification, please complete the bottom of this form, and return it with your debit card to the safety manager at the following address…”

 

Cheshire Police have said: “As far as scams go, we think this one will take some beating.”

This letter from ‘Mr Smith’ at ‘Barclays’ is warning people about Spontaneous Debit Card Combustion…that’s debit cards… catching fire.

Usually, our advice would be to #TakeFive before giving anyone your bank details, but we would like to think this one was pretty obvious.”

More advice on fraud prevention here: http://socsi.in/wnD3q