Even Mother was fooled by these villains

PRECIOUS little that is financially dodgy normally gets past my mother’s in-built firewall. Although now in her 80s, she remains as sharp as a razor, giving occasional fraudsters who ring offering the world in return for her bank account details a withering piece of her mind. An experience that would turn the legs of even the most hardened of fraudsters to jelly. Nobody does withering more fearsomely than Mother (I’ve been withered at on many an occasion albeit for breaches of dress code – ‘always look smart’ – and punctuality ‘Jeffrey, never be late again’).

Yet, sometimes, even my wise owl of a mother is tempted by the offerings of despicable people who seek to scam the elderly out of their life savings (personally I would flog them).

Such was the case last week when upon returning from a funeral in London, there was a letter on the doorstep informing Mother that she had won £900,000 in an international postcode lottery. All she had to do to claim her prize was ring a number, pay a small administration fee – and (the giveaway) provide her bank account details.

Maybe the after-effects of the funeral wake (and an awful journey home on board a train jam packed to the rafters) had temporarily weakened her firewall. Maybe she was confused by the fact that her son-in-law had earlier in the year signed her up to the legitimate People’s Postcode Lottery. But for a wee moment she thought all her dreams had come true. A right old financial blast, she thought, lay in store – a new home, world cruises galore and a little put aside for loved ones (maybe even me).

Yet the euphoria didn’t last long as my younger brother Dave – who lives nearby – swiftly came round and did an internet search on key words ‘international post code lottery scam’ (Mother doesn’t bother with computers). He soon discovered scores of stories from people receiving identical scam letters, the latest reported batch flooding Cleveland this time last year.

Mother is now fuming with rage that someone could try such a scam on her while brother Dave wants me to uncover the fraudsters behind

this lottery fraud. I’m working on it. Work in progress.

In the meantime, if you receive any mail from International Postcode Online Lottery stating you have just won a cool (tax-free) £900,000, please bin straightaway. But not before dropping me an email at jeff.prestridge@mailonsunday.co.uk EVERYWHERE I go these days, it seems fewer retailers are prepared to take my hard earned cash.

So my favourite coffee shop at St Katharine Docks in London that I sometimes visit after an invigorating 5k Park Run on a Saturday morning is now cashless. And the local Virgin Active gym I have been known to visit occasionally to do the odd press-up or three has just announced it is going cashless as part of the gym group’s move to turn all its clubs into coin-free and pound free zones. With an increasing number of bank branches now refusing to take coins – as my colleague Toby Walne reports opposite – we are hurtling towards a cashless society quicker than most people realise.

The less access to cash there is via ATMs, the less likely we are to use it. The less cash is accepted, the greater the push towards card payments. It’s a pincer movement where the losers are cash (as a payment method) and consumer choice. It leaves me feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

For a moment, she thought her dreams had come true – new home and cruises galore

THANK you to all the lovely readers who have supported our campaigns to get investment manager Neil Woodford to waive the fees he continues to earn from marooned fund Equity Income – and to push for a ban on the exit fees some platforms apply to investors who want to move their investments to a rival.

As we report in today’s Wealth section, you are fully behind our campaigns. All we need now is for Woodford to see some sense (not guaranteed judging on past performance) and for the City’s regulator to show some backbone (for once in its lifetime) and ban exit fees.

Rest assured, we will continue to cajole and hustle on your behalf.