Fake police want £65k off Jim, 86

JIM is 86 and lives on his own but has a strong family network around him who check in on him daily.

One day he received a phone call from a man who purported to be from the police.

The ‘officer’ informed Jim that he was being investigated for fraud.

The caller explained that Jim needed to be interviewed today but could not be brought into the police station due to Covid so it would be a telephone interview initially.

He was then asked if he wanted a solicitor and was told one could be arranged for him.

Jim, not his real name, elected to have a solicitor so he was told that the call would reconvene in 20 minutes and that in the interim a solicitor would call him.

Grandson

Sure enough he received a call roughly 10 minutes later from a man who purported to be a solicitor. He advised Jim to simply say no comment to each question.

The call reconvened and the interview lasted around 30 minutes. As advised, Jim answered no comment to each question.

During the call he learned that more than 50 people had fallen victim to a Covid fraud where money was taken from fictitious covid passports.

At the end of the call the ‘policeman’ warned Jim not to discuss this with anyone other than his solicitor and that this included his family.

Next day Jim received a call from the ‘solicitor’. He told Jim that he had received further information from the police and it was now clear he was going to be charged and taken to court. Jim pleaded his innocence and the solicitor assured Jim that he believed him and that he would “get him off”.

Then came the sting in the tail. Jim was told he would need to transfer £65,000 for the legal fees.

Jim, from Basingstoke, Hants, immediately put his house up for sale to raise the money, telling his family that he wanted to downsize and move into a flat.

His grandson wasn’t convinced and ended up getting the real story from Jim and this led to the scam being rumbled, thank god.

I receive so many letters and emails from readers about fraud and I also get lots of calls from my LBC listeners who have been targeted so I thought I’d heard it all until I heard from Jim.

His story is shocking and shows how far fraudsters will go to steal from those who are vulnerable.