Con victim loses £10k to crooks posing as bank staff
Alert as fraudsters trick man into transferring cash
Callous crooks tricked a Paisley man into transferring them £10,000 after claiming his bank account had been hacked.
The 36- year- old alerted cops after thieves posing as bank staff convinced him into handing over thousands of pounds in cash.
Fraudsters first texted the victim before calling to claim his bank account had been compromised.
They were able to tell him his overdraft limit and bank balance during the call, which convinced him that they were legitimate.
They then ordered him to transfer all his money to them and to shut down his account to avoid being cheated.
Only later did the victim, from the Ferguslie area of Paisley, realise he had been duped by the sophisticated phone scam and alerted the authorities.
Police say they are now investigating the incident and warned people to be wary of cold calls from banks claiming their account has been compromised.
Inspector Allan O’Hare, f rom Renfrewshire’s Community Po l i c i n g Team said: “The victim was naturally dubious about the call to start with, but when provided with personal information was persuaded that the caller was genuine.
“They then managed to convince him to transfer money out of his account and into a ‘safe account’.
“Unfortunately, this was a false account used to steal his money.
“A w e l l - p l a n n e d , convincing, targeted scam like this is very difficult to defend against.
“Our advice would be to end any call you receive of this nature and contact your bank yourself to ask if there are, indeed, any issues with your account.
“If you received the call on a landline, call the bank on a mobile, and vice versa.”
He added: “Also, no bank will ever ask you to transfer money between accounts over the phone.”
Express readers with i n f o rmat i o n should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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No bank will ever ask you to transfer money