From the Essex Police website, a nasty story of how an elderly lady was targeted and conned out of her savings:
A woman aged in her 80s has?been left without money to pay her bills after?her entire ?14,000 savings were stolen in a telephone scam carried out by tricksters posing as a detective and bank official. Mrs M, who lives in the Maldon area, does not wish to be identified but has spoken out to warn others of the fraud which has continued across Essex since January 2013….
…..Mrs M was tricked on Tuesday April 29 but did not realise she was a victim of a complex scam until Thursday May 1 when she saw a local newspaper report warning of tricksters operating in the Maldon area.
The fraud started shortly after midday when Mrs M received a phone call from a man calling himself ?Matthew Taylor? and claiming to be from her bank branch in Maldon.
?Taylor? claimed that the bank had been contacted by the Met Police about a problem with Mrs M?s bank account.
She was then asked to dial 999 and ask for ?Det Con Bailey? at Charing Cross police station. She dialled the number and a female ?operator? put her through to ?Bailey?.
But it was all a con. ?Taylor? had kept the line open when Mrs M dialled 999 and instead of talking to a policeman she was put in touch with another trickster…..
Full piece here.