AN ELDERLY man has been scammed out of £500 by someone posing as police officer over the phone.
The 78-year-old from Redditch was called on his landline on Wednesday (November 5) by a man claiming to be a detective constable from the serious crime squad in London.
He claimed two men had been arrested with credit cards on them which belonged to the victim.
The fraudster advised the elderly man to transfer his money into a fake police account because staff from the bank were involved in the theft.
The victim transferred more than £3,000 into the account and was called back about 5pm to be told it had successfully gone through.
He was also told the money would be transferred back into his account the next morning, but when he checked it had still not gone through.
He phoned his bank who managed to stop the transaction, but not before £500 was withdrawn by the thieves.
The pensioner is not the first Redditch resident to have been targeted by fraudsters. Last Friday (November 7) two men called an elderly man about midday claiming to be police officers from Hammersmith Police Station.
They claimed they had arrested two men for fraud who were in possession of the victim’s bank card. They asked him to transfer his savings into a ‘police’ account but he declined.
On October 28 a 72-year-old woman was called by someone again claiming to be a police officer from Hammersmith who believed she had been robbed and they were holding two men in connection with the crime.
He asked for her bank details but the woman became suspicious and hung up without discussing any financial details.
Police are urging residents to be on their guard against the scam and to call them immediately if they receive such a call.
Anyone with any information or who believed they have been a victim of a scam should call police on 101.
