Met Police issue High Security Notice about door to door thieves pretending to be Home Affairs Officers [probable hoax]

Update: despite this message coming from the official ‘Met Engage’ police channel, it’s been flagged as a hoax by FullFact.org.

We’ve kept the original article (below) but now doubt its authenticity,

The Met Police have issued High Security Notice about fraudsters operating in the Brixton area, warning residents to “please be aware that there is a group of people going door to door pretending to be Home Affairs Officers.”

They have documents and letterheads from the Home Affairs Department and claim that they need to verify that everyone has a valid ID for the upcoming census.

 

They rob houses. They are everywhere and they look neat.

 

Someone will come to your house and say *I want to take your photo/fingerprint according to some scheme*. They have a laptop, a biometric machine and a list of all the names. They show the list and ask for all this information.

 

Please be aware that there is no such initiative by the government.

 

Please be aware that all of this is fake. Do not give them any information. Everyone should be vigilant and *aware*!

 

Send this to all your community groups. Please inform your family and friends.

The police offered the following advice:

We consider fraud to be a serious crime and will put the time in to tackle it however we can. In the meantime, there are ways to keep yourself safe.

 

Fraud comes in many forms and across various different channels, whether that’s through emails, phone calls or in person encounters. Please see a few resources below to protect you and others from potential fraudsters:

 

• Learn the ten golden rules to prevent fraud.
• Find out about the most common types of fraud.
• Download The Little Book of Big Scams to find out more. The Little Book of Big Scams audio version is also available.

For more information and help and to report fraud, go to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre.

 

Lastly, if you think you’ve uncovered a scam, been targeted by a scam or fallen victim to fraudsters, please contact 101 or Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or online at Action Fraud.