ZEPHYR – the South West’s regional organised crime unit – has made arrests in Scotland as part of its on-going probe into courier fraud.

Detectives from Zephyr were joined by officers from Police Scotland to execute search warrants on properties in the Castlemilk and Crosshill areas of the city of Glasgow. It is the first arrests made north of the border and follows arrests throughout the south west and in East London.

They arrested a 43-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and money-laundering offences.

Officers seized a high value car and a significant amount of money during searches of the properties.

Victims of the crimes live in the Devon and Cornwall and Wiltshire police force areas – where people since March - have been duped out of around £2m by fraudsters.

A 60-year-old woman from Salisbury was duped out of £85,000 and a woman from Tiverton lost £13,000, after she contacted her bank after the suspects attempted to obtain £33,000.

DI Tony Hubbard of Zephyr said: “What concerns us is that we believe the 300 people spread across the South West who have been duped out of more than £2m, may just be the tip of the iceberg and many are too embarrassed and ashamed to report that they have been conned.

“However we want people to be reassured by today’s action which is the latest in a series of arrests targeting fraudsters, some of whom have been arrested as a result of information provided by members of the public.

“Despite high profile publicity around courier fraud over the past six months people – particularly those in the vulnerable over 60 age group – continue to fall prey to the fraudsters.

“Everyone has a role to play in helping to combat this particularly despicable form of crime and we would appeal to three broad groups of people to help us prevent further crimes from being committed:

• Children, grandchildren, relatives and friends of the elderly and vulnerable - please share this advice and if concerned, ask questions.

• We want taxi company owners and drivers to be vigilant, especially if approached or asked to courier small packages to London on half of elderly people.

• And thirdly, we want banks and other financial institutions - and in particular counter staff – to be suspicious if elderly customers uncharacteristically draw large amounts of cash and query this.

The fraudsters use the same format to dupe people. They contact potential victims – who are normally elderly - by telephone, purporting to be a police officer. They are then encouraged by the fraudster, who uses elaborate and convincing reasons to withdraw large sums of cash, which they are then asked to send to a destination by taxi or a courier, or by electronic transfer of large amounts to a fraudulent bank account .