Police have issued a warning to members of the public after a couple in their 70s were scammed out of their money.
Police are issuing a warning to members of the public after a couple in their 70s were scammed out of a significant amount of money.
The Bournemouth couple were targeted by fraudsters through a series of courier and banking scams. On Thursday 15 August 2019 they were called on their landline by a man claiming to be a detective from the Metropolitan Police. The caller said they had arrested a man and found him to be in possession of bank cards belonging to the couple. He advised them that their bank account and funds were at risk.
The man then repeatedly called the couple and gave them updates on the ‘investigation’. He told the pair that someone at their bank had shared the couple’s bank details and due to this they needed to transfer their savings into a secure account set up by the police to keep it safe.
He provided them with details for an account and said when the investigation was concluded it would be returned. The victims concerned by the repeated warnings about their finances agreed to transfer their money following the instructions from the ‘detective’.
On Friday 25 October 2019 the couple were told that the officer, who they had never actually met in person, would be visiting their home on Monday 28 October to arrange for all their money to be returned.
The elderly couple tried to contact him on the day but there was no response on either the landline or mobile phone numbers he had given him. It was also established that he was not a Metropolitan Police officer.The scammer was able to convince the couple to part with a significant amount of money.
Detective Inspector Wayne Seymour, of Dorset Police, said: “This was a sophisticated scam where the offender has manipulated his victims and gained the trust of the couple by posing as a police officer and used a number of methods to try and persuade them he was genuine.
“This is another example of the lengths scammers will go to cheat honest people out of their money and the ruthless way they exploit their victims.
“I would urge anyone with information about this incident, or who believes they may have been the target of a similar scam, to please contact us.
“The police will never ask you to transfer money to another account, and if you have any doubts about someone’s validity, take their details, ring the organisation back through a listed number and ask to speak to that individual.”
For more fraud prevention advice visit this site.