Chief Inspector Pete Edwards of Barnet Borough Police became the latest target of a scam recently and wants to let Barnet residents know about it so that they too can be on their guard.

He received a letter at home from a person in Singapore pretending to be able to give Mr Edwards large amounts of money from bank where accounts of deceased people lie dormant and he will activate them because they have the same surname as Mr Edwards.  These letters are phoney and no one should respond to them.   They are sent out in their thousands and in spite of repeated warnings by police some people respond and find themselves losing vast amounts of money as the letter writers ask for money to set up transactions and their costs to get the funds.

The scams are attempted by both letter and e-mail and vary greatly in their content but the main theme is the same - they promise large amounts of money to people who must first send smaller amounts to get this money.  Don’t forget if an offer looks too good to be true - is usually is!

For further help and information contact www.met.police.uk/fraudalert