January 9, 2019 4.44 pm This story is over 62 months old

Pensioner scammed out of life savings

He lost his life savings in what is described as a double scam
Photo: The Lincolnite

A pensioner from Stamford has been conned out of his life savings, worth £21,500, after he fell for a double scam.

The elderly man in his 70s has shared his story as a warning to others after he was targeted by fraudsters at the end of 2017.

This man is the latest victim in around 300 telephone impersonation frauds which have been reported to Lincolnshire Police over the last six months.

Fraudsters used a double scam by pretending to be from two different organisations in separate phone calls.

He was first called by a man claiming to work for BT and said that the victim had run up a higher than normal phone bill but was entitled to a “special discount.”

They already had some of the man’s bank details, so it appeared to be believable.

This is how easily scammers can target you.

But he became sceptical and went to visit his local bank but was called by another fraudster claiming to be from the National Crime Agency before he could get there.

This second fraudster said that £400 had been deducted from his bank account and that he couldn’t go his local branch because a staff member was under investigation.

So the elderly man was asked to go to a different bank and transfer money to help with their investigation. While there he transferred £21,500 to the fraudsters.

He anonymously shared his story with Lincolnshire Police as a warning to others:

“They [the fraudsters] already had my long card number and just asked me to confirm my sort code and account number.

“At the end of the call I became suspicious and though I best visit my local bank. The phone rang again though, and this time it was from the National Crime Agency.

“Everything happened very quickly in what turned out to be a complete scam. I was very distressed and didn’t sleep well that night and didn’t want to see anyone all weekend so I shut myself away.”

If you have been contacted by anyone asking you for bank details or to purchase items, the police are urging you to call them on 101.