Ipswich: Lady Scammed Of £2,000 Gets It Back
18 December 2013, 11:47 | Updated: 18 December 2013, 12:05
A lady who was scammed out of £2,000 has got it back, after police officers answered a phone call from the conmen.
A Suffolk police officer visited the lady’s house yesterday (17th December) to take a statement. While he was there, he answered a call that came in from the conmen. When the conman realised he had been found out he became abusive to the officer and threatened that he would continue to carry out scams like this because he would never be found out.
It's after the 75 year old woman from west Ipswich was contacted at around 11.50am from a man claiming he was a police officer who was investigating a fraud incident on her bank account.
The woman was told that in order for the case to be in investigated she needed to withdraw £4000 from her bank account and a taxi driver would collect the money later that day to be taken to the police.
The victim said she was unable to withdraw that amount of money but could manage £2000.
Throughout the conversation the woman was told by the ‘police officer’ that if she had any concerns she should hang up and call the local police on 101 to confirm the details were correct.
It would appear that the offender didn’t hang up, leaving the line open.
When the woman made the clarification call she spoke to another ‘conman’ who confirmed that the call was genuine.
Officers became aware of the scam when a local taxi company contacted Suffolk Police stating that they had been asked to collect a package and take it to London.
The victim, who had been told throughout by the fake police officer not to give out any information, had told the taxi driver that the money was for her son.
The taxi was stopped on the M25 prior to its destination with the driver being made aware that this was indeed part of a scam.
Community Safety Manager Alan Osborne said: "These are despicable crimes where these conmen are targeting elderly, vulnerable people who receive a call from someone they believe to be genuine.
"I can’t stress enough the importance that word spreads about this type of crime. Please if you know someone elderly spread the word, tell them about this scam and the importance, no matter how convincing the person is, not to give out bank details or agree to withdraw any money and pass it to a courier or taxi driver.
"Your bank, building society or a police officer will never make a call such as this and will never ask for your bank details or ask you to withdraw money.”
Crime reduction officers around the county are spreading the word and contacting banks, building societies, taxi and courier companies to ensure they are aware of this particular scam.