By Elderly woman sends £7000 to scammers
The public are being urged to talk to the vulnerable about phone fraud after police stepped in to stop an elderly woman in North Lincolnshire sending more money to scammers shortly after she had already handed over £7000.
“Can I please request that you speak with your family/friends about telephone fraud,” said a social media post from Sgt Jackson of Humberside Police, North Lincolnshire area.
“One of my PCSOs visited Barclays bank today to stop a very elderly and vulnerable lady sending more money to scammers who pretended to be from the Inland Revenue.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t stop the £7000 already sent by the lady a couple of days ago.”
He continued: “Can I please request that you mention it in passing/conversation, as most, if not all, of our elderly vulnerable persons do not have access to the internet or social media to see news and updates regarding these scams.”
The post led to a flood of comments, with many from people who had been targeted by scammers.
One said: “Had two calls supposedly from HMRC saying I owed over £30000 in unpaid tax… if I didn’t pay straight away police would be here within the hour to arrest me and I would be sent down for at least 15 years.”
While another said: “I had this one, yesterday – an automated message ‘Your bank has reported that your MasterCard or Visa card has been used in the last 15 minutes, to withdraw £600, in a foreign country. Press 1 to speak to someone. Needless to say, I ended the call.”
Sgt Jackson said: “If you receive a call and they ask for money, please politely end the call, call the agency back on another phone using the official number on the website. Remember! Please also make sure that the website uses ‘https’ like the Humberside Police website.”
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