Edinburgh pensioner conned out of life savings by callous fraudsters
The woman - in her late 60s - handed the crooks a six figure sum
A pensioner has been conned out of her life savings by callous fraudsters in Edinburgh.
The fraudsters called the woman - who's in her late 60s and lives in the Ravelston area - on her home phone on Moncay (6th June) purporting to be from her bank, saying that someone had tried to buy a television from Argos using her bankcard.
They convinced her they were genuine bank employees by mimicking the bank’s phone number on her phone and told her to transfer a five-figure sum of money into a so-called ‘holding account’.
She went to the branch and withdrew the cash and handed it over to them when they turned up at her door at 1.30 pm on Tuesday.
Another sum of money was also transferred online into a bogus bank account.
Officers say they're following "a number" of positive lines of inquiry.
Detective Inspector Arron Clinkscales said: “Anyone can fall foul of these sorts of sophisticated frauds and we want to emphasise that the fault entirely lies with the unscrupulous individuals who target older and vulnerable members of the public.
“I would also like to reassure the public that we are doing everything in our power to bring them to justice and also offer the simple preventative advice below to help people protect themselves from these criminals.”
Anyone with information that can assist officers with their inquiries is asked to contact Police via 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.