A Wakefield man was arrested Monday on suspicion he was about to rob a Porter Square bank, police said.

The FBI Bank Robbery Task Force called Cambridge police in the morning with a warning that Paul Gowell, 53, of 678 Main St., Wakefield, was planning to rob a Cambridge Trust Co. bank at 1720 Massachusetts Ave., said Daniel Riviello, the police department’s communications specialist.

Detectives and members of the Bank Robbery Task Force surveilled the area, identified Gowell and at about 10:30 a.m. took him into custody outside the bank before a crime could be committed, Riviello said.

Gowell was charged with one count of attempt to commit a crime and two counts of unarmed robbery from incidents at the East Cambridge Savings Bank on Dec. 3 and at the Harvard University Employee Credit Union on Oct. 30.

This post was written primarily from a press release.