Tricked into handing bank card to ‘courier’

An elderly reader had his accounts drained after a call from a bogus police officer. Sam Meadows explains how to stay safe

When Ian Price handed over his bank cards, pin, and all the cash he had to a motorbikeriding courier in the dead of night he thought he was acting on instructions from the police.

In fact, he was one of an estimated half a million over-65s who have fallen victim to scammers. More than half of all pensioners have been targeted by fraudsters, according to research by Age UK, the charity, so being aware of scammers is more important than ever.

Mr Price, 89, was phoned by someone purporting to be a police officer. The caller told him that he had been monitoring his bank accounts and had noticed some suspicious activity. The “officer” would send a courier, he said, to collect his bank cards for his own protection. The clincher for Mr Price was the scammer’s claim that he could hang up and dial 999 if he was unsure.

He did so, but the fraudster was relying on a little-known quirk of the telephone system that allows a caller to “tie up” your line for a few minutes if they don’t hang up after you have put the phone down. This meant that when Mr Price dialled 999 immediately, he was reconnected to the scammer (BT said that lines were now tied up for no more than 10 seconds). Reassured, Mr Price handed his cards and pin to the courier – who arrived at 11pm – thinking that he was doing the right thing. Instead, the scammers ransacked his accounts.

Mr Price’s son, Christopher, a charity worker, said the incident had taken an incredible toll on his father. “If you get swindled at a younger age you can kind of rationalise it and deal with it,” he said. “At an older age, when your confidence is waning anyway, it can really knock you down. It’s got to the point where he really has lost his confidence to deal with money or passwords. I deal with his banking, and my sister does all of his online shopping for him. He has an ipad, which he uses to listen to the radio, but anything with an app or a password, he now struggles with. We joke that I’m giving him his pocket money every week.”

Mr Price was relatively lucky. His credit card companies refunded him the money and he lost only around £100. But Telegraph Money has reported several times how elderly people who have been scammed have lost tens of thousands of pounds.

Last year, we reported that one reader, Shaun Phillips, had lost £51,000 to fraudsters after he had already been targeted twice and told by his bank, TSB, that he was protected. Experts think that the Government’s database of scam victims – which currently numbers around 300,000 – could reach close to one million by 2019.

Lucy Harmer, a director at Independent Age, a charity that provides information and advice, said the elderly were disproportionately likely to be targeted by scammers. According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, 80pc of phone scam victims are aged over 55, and 65pc of doorstep-scam victims are over 65.

“Older people face multiple risk factors,” she said. “They are often home alone, and during the day. They are more likely to pick up the phone and more willing to talk. They may well be more vulnerable the older they get, suffering from dementia and other illnesses.”

She added that while statistics existed for the number of people who fell for online scams, many people were too embarrassed to come forward, meaning that the true scale of the issue could be much larger.

Elderly people who fall for one scam often also find themselves put on a “suckers’ list”. Government estimates suggest that there could be a million people on these lists by 2019. “There are some really sad stories about people who receive more and more contact,” Ms Harmer said. “One of the signs that an older person may be falling victim to scammers is that they receive an unusual amount of post, or they get a lot of phone calls from strangers. If you have been conned once, they pass your details around and you can very easily become a victim again. If older people have the information they need, they can start to spot the things to look out for, and become less likely to fall for the scams.”

How can I protect myself from scammers?

Independent Age has launched a Scamwise campaign to help older people stay ahead of the con men. As well as an advice leaflet, the charity has produced an online quiz that allows you to test your knowledge of some of the most common scams.

Ms Harmer said: “For older people who think they may have been scammed, it’s important to remember that anyone can be a victim of a crime. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. The most important thing is to report it so you can get the support you need, and to help prevent other people being targeted by the same scam. It’s also good to be aware of the tactics scammers use, and learn how to protect yourself. There are a few simple things you can do, such as hanging up on cold callers, registering with the Mailing Preference Service to reduce the amount of junk mail you get, and never giving out personal information.”

To order copies of the Scamwise guide visit independentage.org/ scamwise.

Some names have been changed

‘My dad has lost his confidence to deal with money or passwords’ Card con: fraudsters target older people, convincing them to hand over cash cards to motorcycle couriers