Autistic bank customer duped out of thousands

Conman cold caller posed as bank in so-called ‘push fraud’

FRAUDSTERS stole £4,600 from an autistic Santander customer in Birmingham after duping her into transferring her life savings to their account.

The vulnerable victim received a phone call from a conman claiming to be from the Spanish bank’s fraud team – and warned criminals were targeting her.

She was persuaded to log on to her online banking account and then told how to move all her money to a ‘safe’ Barclays account.

After stealing her £3,995 life savings the cruel conmen called back hours later and convinced her to reveal her card details – which they used to buy £650 of online goods.

When the devastated victim, 31, realised she had been duped she contacted Santander which initially declined a refund.

But after the Birmingham Post got involved the Spanish bank has now agreed to hand back all her stolen money.

The fraud began on May 25 when the unemployed engineer, who has asked not to be named, received a phone call to her mobile from an unknown number.

She said: “They claimed they were a Santander employee from the fraud team and said it was regarding suspicious fraudulent activity on my current account.

“I was told to log on to my online banking account and the caller convinced me to place my funds within a ‘safe account’ with Barclays.

“But I was subsequently unable to access my mobile app and online banking account.

“I was completely unaware that this was a safe account scam and an authorised push payment scam.”

The still unaware victim received a call from a fraudster still posing as Santander employees hours later – this time convincing her to hand over her bank card details.

She said: “I was told that my card had been cancelled and that I would be issued a new one within 2-3 working days.

“I only later found out about multiple of attempted transactions which were not made by myself and are baffling to me.”

After realising she had been duped she reported the incidents to Santande and was told she had been victim of so-called ‘push fraud’.

The news was particularly devastating as she had been saving to get on to the property ladder and move out of her parent’s Birmingham home.

She said: “I was saving up to try and get a property.

“I fell out of work back in March. I did work as an engineer and I later got another job but lost that down to the pandemic.

“I contacted Santander but they said because they were not liable they would not be able to reimburse me. They said they would contact Barclays but said it was 50/50 if they could get the money back.”

The victim also contacted Action Fraud about the scam.

But after the Birmingham Post contacted Santander, the bank agreed to reimburse the victim with all her money.

A bank spokesman said: “We have the utmost sympathy for anyone who falls victim to a scam.

“Having reviewed our customer’s individual circumstances we have arranged for a full reimbursement of her funds.”

They added: “Please remember that your bank will never contact you and ask you to move your money to a ‘safe account’.

“If you receive a phone call from someone who says that they are calling from your bank, check that it’s genuine by hanging up, checking the line is clear then calling the number on the back of your debit or credit card.”