Fraudsters pose as police and telecom staff to target vulnerable pensioners

In one of the incidents, a female victim received a phone call from a male claiming to be from a telecoms provider and who told her she owed the company money. The woman was instructed to give the caller her pin number and to leave her bank card outside her front door. The woman’s card was then used to withdraw a significant amount of money from her account.

In the second report, a woman in the Comber area received a call from a person claiming to be a ‘fraud officer’ from her bank and instructing her to go to a bank to withdraw money. Thankfully this attempt was thwarted and no money was lost.

In a third report made, a female received a call from a male claiming to be a police officer who told her that her account had been hacked and to avoid any further fraud, this person would come to her house to get cash. Thankfully, no financial details were provided to the scammer and no loss was incurred.

Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said: “We are making enquiries into these despicable incidents, in which the victims, all aged over 70, were callously targeted.

“I want to take this opportunity to assure you that no police officer will ever call you on the phone asking for money or personal banking details in this way.

“I also want to encourage people to take extra precautions to protect themselves from such callous callers. Be sceptical and on your guard, if you think something is suspicious about the nature of the call, it usually is a scam.

“I want to appeal to family members to do all they can to let their loved ones know, especially those who are older and vulnerable, never to give out any kind of financial details over the phone unless they are sure it is safe to do so.

“Scammers don’t care who their victim is, they just want the money and will employ whatever tactic is necessary.”