Police warning over telephone scam...

[dutchman]

Police in Warwickshire are warning elderly people to be aware of a telephone scam after a man had more than £13,000 withdrawn from his bank account.



The scam involved a cold caller purporting to be from the man's telephone provider, who claimed there had been a problem with his direct debit payment.

After a number of follow-up calls, the caller managed to obtain details and PIN numbers for the victim's bank accounts and cards. He also persuaded the victim, who lives in Kenilworth, to hand his bank cards over to a "colleague" working in the area.

Police have since found that a number of transactions were made using the bank cards in Birmingham and Coventry, amounting to a total of £13,800.

The con man managed to get a second bank card for a separate bank account by calling on his victim at his home. This man is described as being white, possibly Eastern European appearance, more than 6ft tall and of slim build.

His "colleague" who collected the original card was a white female with dark hair, who was smartly dressed in a business style.

Enquiries by the police have revealed a further two victims of a similar scam in the Kenilworth area.

Police Staff Investigator Rob French, of Leamington Local Investigation, said: "There are common factors in this investigation. All the victims are elderly, and they all use the same telephone provider.

"It may be as simple as the conman getting the names from a telephone directory, then bombarding his elderly victims with calls causing confusion and gradually gaining their trust in order to allow him or a colleague to collect the cards from their home addresses which are then used to steal thousands of pounds.

"Our advice to anyone receiving a telephone call from someone who starts to talk about bank accounts and financial payments is to take their telephone number and contact your own bank immediately to find out if there are any issues with your account.

"Never ever disclose bank account details or give your PIN number to anyone, even if they claim to be from your bank. If you have any doubts at all you should phone your bank yourself and make enquiries if someone has been trying to call you.

"Anyone else who has experienced a similar scam to this is advised to check their bank account immediately, and if there have been unknown transactions contact your bank immediately and also contact the police on 101."