Man arrested after Southam pensioner gave £25,000 to telephone scammer

A man has been arrested after a Southam pensioner was scammed out of £25,000.

It happened when the victim – a man in his 70s – received a call from someone claiming to be from BT.

The caller had the victim’s account details including the amount of his last bill and seemed genuine. The fraudster said there was a problem with his internet and that it had been accessed illegally.

During the incident, in September 2023, the victim was told to download a piece of software onto his computer, allowing remote access to his device, before he was shown that his Amazon account had been hacked with an item added into his basket.

The scammer then claimed that his bank account had been hacked with a payment being made from it. He asked the victim to transfer £25,000 to a new account to help catch the ‘fraudster’, which he did.

At this point, the victim realised it was a scam and contacted his bank who were fortunately able to recover some of the money.

The victim was able to provide information that helped to identify the suspect as a 36-year-old man from Wolverhampton who was arrested on suspicion of fraud when he was due to fly out of East Midlands Airport at the weekend.

Detective Constable Stuart Clasper from Warwickshire Police Economic Crime Unit said: “This was extremely upsetting for the victim who lost a significant amount of money.

“It’s also an example of how convincing these despicable fraudsters can be and how they will utilise technology to gain remote access to peoples devices.

“Its important people are alert to these types of offences. A company will never contact you out of the blue and ask you to move money to a different account. If they do, it is scam; hang up and report it immediately.

“In this case the caller put the victim under pressure to follow his instructions. This is another sign of a scam.

"A genuine company will never put you under pressure in this way and won’t mind if you want to carry out check to ensure a call is genuine.”

The police or your bank will never:

Contact you out of the blue and ask for your personal details, including your PIN number, password or account details

Ask you to transfer money into another account for fraud reasons

Ask you to withdraw cash and hand to someone for safe keeping

Ask you to purchase high value items such as gift cards

Send someone to your home to collect cash or other high value items, bank cards, account details or PIN numbers

If you are unsure whether someone on the phone is genuine, hang up and then use a different line to call the organisation they are purporting to be from using a number from the phonebook or internet to verify their identity

Don’t give out your personal information to anyone over the phone, including your PIN number and bank account or card details

If you have given out your personal banking details to someone over the phone or have given someone your card details, contact your bank immediately to cancel your card

Before taking any action speak to a family member or close friend and do not allow anyone to force you into granting them remote access to your devices.

If you receive a call from someone purporting to be a police officer and asking you to withdraw or transfer money, call Warwickshire Police on 101.

If you have been a victim of a telephone scam, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via their website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

For advice on scams, contact Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133

Always call 999 in an emergency