When Sergeant Anthony Matthews and PC Gary Lambert called a pensioner to reveal they had arrested a fraudster who was impersonating his relative, he must have been thanking his lucky stars. The bank was already investigating, they said, and all the pensioner had to do was withdraw a few thousand pounds in cash and send it over to be ‘fingerprinted’ so the officers could nail their suspect.
It must have been a busy spell for Sergeant Matthews and PC Lambert, because the officers contacted 16 more pensioners that same month, May 2024, asking them all for help with their covert operations. The industrious bobbies requested nearly £100,000, drawing on the financial support of retirees aged between 68 and 87.
Eventually this led to prison time for Mohammed Islam, from Dagenham, and Mahbub Hussain, from Whitechapel. A success for the policemen then, or was it? In fact, ‘Sergeant Anthony Matthews’ and ‘PC Gary Lambert’ were the creation of Islam and Hussain, two young scammers posing as police officers to gain the trust elderly victims.
This is exactly how courier fraud works: by convincing victims they need to withdraw large amounts of cash, or make jewellery purchases, to assist with a police or bank investigation into a made-up fraud. Preying on our instinct to do the right thing, and a deference to authority, victims complete the scam by handing over cash to a courier who arrives on their doorstep.
This type of fraud isn’t new, but the Met Police say they are determined to stamp out a crime that affects some of the most vulnerable Londoners, especially in Bromley, Croydon, and Sutton where the most offences are recorded. Just last year, there were 493 incidents across London, with £3,000,000 taken – the equivalent of more than £6,000 per victim, the eldest of whom was aged 101.
According to the Met’s Head of Economic Crime, Detective Superintendent Kerry Wood, the fraudsters are ‘highly manipulative people who really prey on the elderly community to trick them’. Speaking to MyLondon outside Croydon Custody Centre after a series of dawn raids in the area, Det Supt Wood said in the worst cases, devastated courier fraud victims have taken their own life.
“Fraud is one of those areas people do not really understand the impact of it,” the detective said, “What comes with fraud is the sense of shame and people fall victim to suicide because they lose all their life savings. I think it is so important. The priorities have to be around women and girls and violent crime, but fraud is equally important.”
As part of the Met’s crackdown on courier fraudsters – codenamed Operation Callback – MyLondon was invited to a dawn raid on the address of a suspected fraudster in South London. Officers were looking for a burner phone with damning evidence, but they got more than they bargained for when they rushed inside.
‘We are always prepared for it’
On Windmill Road at 4:30am, MyLondon meets Detective Sergeant Mike Fishlock, a two-decade policing veteran, now in charge of a team on the Met’s cybercrime unit. While Mike is more used to knocking down the doors of criminals hiding behind the dark web, this morning represents an opportunity to catch a suspect who is believed to be using the courier fraud method.
Briefing us about the target’s alleged modus operandi, Mike says: “The people we have got identified have been targeting the elderly and vulnerable people. They call the victim, they tell them their card has been cloned, or fraudulent activity is taking place, and then send the person to collect a card and say there’s a long wait.
“Then they take the elderly person to spend money on the card or take money out. They buy expensive goods and take them back another time with the receipt: phones, AirPods, high-value technical goods, a couple of air-fryers.”
As we get out of Mike’s unmarked SUV, it’s only posties and binmen awake, along with a snake of helmets and boiler suits heading towards the suspect’s address. There are also plainclothes officers, dressed like builders.
Outside the house, heavies from the Territorial Support Group wait for a special door-opening device to do its job, but the whirr of the machine is interrupted by the humping bark of a big dog. Taking initiative, a specialist officer, armed with an electric dog shield, leaps to the front of the queue.
Suddenly an upstairs window flies open. A woman begins screaming as the officers swarm in. Worried about her dog, she continues shouting over an officer who is telling her to ‘shut up’. She doesn’t listen though. Meanwhile, the males who are led outside appear more relaxed. The eldest says nothing at all.
In total, there are three young males, including a child, the furious woman, and a middle-aged man. Police want to ensure no evidence is destroyed, so there’s no time for the oldest man to put his trousers on. The younger males are lucky enough to be wearing shorts.
After the raid, we learn police have located a rucksack full of crack cocaine – some of it in wraps, and some of it in bricks. One of the suspects is alleged to have thrown it from the window.
Later when I ask Mike about the dog, which the woman loudly insisted was a Staffy throughout the entry, he laughs: “That’s what they all say.” In fact, there are suspicions the dog is a ‘Pitbull type’, and needs to be tested for its breed.
Though it’s a ‘messy’ raid, Mike, who is hard to read, seems quietly pleased. When I ask if he was expecting to find Class As, Mike says: “We weren’t expecting it, but we are always prepared for it.”
£250k and hundreds of bank cards seized
The raid MyLondon joined came after months of covert tactics and intelligence. This week Scotland Yard announced it has seized more than £250,000 in cash, plus hundreds of bank cards and phones. Over the last two months, 18 people have been arrested, including two men who were charged in connection with the bust we witnessed.
Among the successes, police say Op Callback has led to charges for a man and woman who allegedly posed as bank officials, tricking people into handing over the bank cards. The force also claims it has uncovered a suspected multi-million-pound organised crime network, which is alleged to have tricked victims into sending their bank cards to addresses across London.
The criminals are alleged to have used the cards to purchase luxury goods. Four men have since been charged after 70 reports were connected to the investigation, and another three people were charged with concealing stolen goods.
Police also say they have visited more than 100 victims to ‘reassure, educate and help recover money stolen’, and cited a 46 per cent decrease in reported offences since the operation began in February 2025
The Met’s website has more information on protecting yourself from this type of fraud : Door-to-door and courier fraud | Metropolitan Police. You can also find out more by visiting: The Little Book of Big Scams – 5th Edition. If you have lost money, make a police report and contact your bank immediately.
Report cybercrime and fraud in the UK to Action FraudOnline at www.actionfraud.police.uk, or by calling 0300 123 2040. If you are deaf or hard of hearing you can use textphone 0300 123 2050.
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