Woman fell victim to con and now wants to warn others of the dangers Scammers took my £65k savings and left me suicidal

tjamieson@thekmgroup.co.uk A WOMAN who was conned out of her £65,000 life savings says she feels “gutted and stupid”.

Denise Parsons lost her money to a scam by a gang claiming at one stage to be from the FBI.

“I was suicidal when I realised how much had gone,” said Miss Parsons, a 58-year-old admin assistant.

“I started thinking of ways of taking my life. I feel gutted and stupid.”

Asked what she would say to the conmen if she could confront them, she said: “It is not what I would say but what I would do. I would really want to hurt them.”

Miss Parsons, who lives in the Tenterden area, spoke out to highlight trading standards Scam Awareness Month.

“I don’t want anyone else to become a victim like I have,” she said.

Miss Parsons’ problems began in September, 2011, when she had a phone call at home from a man claiming to be from Microsoft saying she had a problem with her computer.

“They connected remotely to my machine and all these error messages came up,” she said. “They said they could fix it for £213 for a lifetime cover – I thought that would be the end of it.”

Miss Parsons sent the cash via a Western Union transfer, a pattern that was to be repeated time and again over the next 15 months.

She got calls every few weeks from the scammers.

“They kept saying there was a problem. It wasn’t a case of me handing over £65,000, it was a drip, drip effect over a period of time of £500 here and £500 there.

“When it got to £6,000 I wanted to stop it and see if I could get my money back.”

After some months, Miss Parsons got a phone call from a man calling himself Ben Stevens and claiming to be from the FBI.

“He said they needed £500 and that it would not be possible to get my money back unless I paid out more,” she said.

“He was very persuasive. There was another man calling me called James and they seemed to be playing me off between them.

“I was getting phone calls at 4am. They were quite bullying.”

Miss Parsons continued to send cash, using Western Union and Moneygram transfers.

“I kept thinking, one more payment and I will get it all back,” she said.

Miss Parsons even gave over her bank details after being told the money would be refunded to her account. She lost a further £1,600 from her account, which was later refunded by her bank.

She eventually contacted the police in December last year, and trading standards were alerted.

Investigators do not think there is any prospect of her getting any money back.

“I have always been thrifty and the money was for my retirement,” said Miss Parsons. “This was my life savings. I was hoping to retire early but now I will have to work longer – I have lost it all.”

What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford, TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk