OAP loses life savings to scam

Five-figure sum taken by fraudster

An elderly Killearn man has been left without his life savings after heartless fraudsters targeted him in a telephone scam.

The man, who is in his 80s, had a fivefigure sum, thought to be in excess of £15,000, taken from his account by a cruel crook posing as a bank worker.

He was victim of the “despicable” crime while at home in the village on Saturday, October 15.

A male with an English accent, claiming to be from his bank, phoned and told him that his funds had been frozen and he needed to transfer all of his cash into another separate account.

The elderly man was suspicious at first and questioned the fraudster about his request. However, after some persuasion, the man became convinced of the caller’s authenticity and agreed to transfer the money into the account.

He later contacted his bank who informed him that he may have been victim to a scam and that he should contact the police.

Police were keen to issue advice to help prevent people from falling foul of such criminal activity.

Inspector Jim Young said: “People should know that their bank would never call them up and ask for bank details, or ask them to transfer money into another account.

“Banks will always either send something in writing or ask that you go in to the local branch. If you are suspicious of someone phoning ask them to send you a letter. Never give out your personal details.

“This type of thing is despicable but it does happen now and again.”

Stirling Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) insist people can find more information on how to avoid falling victim to phone scams by popping into their local CAB office or visiting the Action Fraud webpage.

A spokesperson said: “If any citizen were at all sceptical about the authenticity of an approach or offer from an individual, company or indeed any service provider they should not proceed.”

For further information go to www. cas.org.uk/campaigns/scamaware. landfill.

The new set-up is considered vital if the council is to cut its annual £2 million bill for sending refuse to landfill and meet new recycling targets.

But the rollout has been dogged by complaints since it began. Residents were at first confused about when they should put out their bins for uplift. Original advice issued by the council was to wait a fortnight after the new bins were delivered before putting them out. Residents were later told to start using the new bins immediately. Some bins also failed to be emptied while others were left on the kerbside for up to three days before binmen arrived.

Members of the SNP Opposition Group last week revealed figures which showed the number of calls from the public received by the council in September, when people began to receive their new bins, was almost 18,000, compared with 13,842 the previous month.

And the council has admitted that while planning for the change has been going on for 18 months, the full fleet of new bin lorries required to replace clapped out old vehicles had still not arrived. The system was also rolled out without agreement with unions, representing the bin operatives, on the seven-day working arrangement considered vital if the new scheme is going to work properly. As a result, the council has had to pay bin staff overtime to make sure all the bins are uplifted.

Yesterday, however, a council spokesman said: “All trade unions –Unison, Unite and GMB – have now voted in favour of a collective agreement to move to the new shift patterns. The current contractual and payment arrangements remain in place at present as the transition takes place. Overtime has been incurred during this time and it is anticipated the new working pattern will drastically reduce this, with the co-operation of the workforce and as the new system settles down.”

Stirling East councillor Gerry McLaughlan, SNP Opposition’s finance spokesman, said: “Negotiations with the unions should have happened early, enabling agreement to be in place before the new system was rolled out. What has happened is that the administration has ordered the new bins and lorries and were committed to the new way of working without first taking the staff along with them. That has caused problems.”