A 94-year-old woman has been scammed out of thousands of pounds by a person pretending to be from their bank, police have warned. South Wales Police has reported pensioners in south Wales being targeted by a cold caller claiming to be from their bank.
In one incident, the suspect called a 94-year-old victim pretending to be calling from her bank, stating there was an issue with the card. The suspect then visited the victim at her home address and convinced her to hand the card over so that a new one could be sent out. The victim was defrauded of several thousands of pounds worth of savings.
Police wish to speak to a woman in connection with the incident. A CCTV picture of the woman can be seen below. A spokesperson for the force added: "We believe there are several linked incidents where vulnerable elderly individuals have been targeted by the same individual involving a similar tactic."
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In February 2022, South Wales Police reported that an elderly woman had received a phone call from someone claiming to be from Barclays bank. They advised her that a new bank card was on the way, but an old one had to be collected together with her pin number.
During that incident, the elderly victim's card was collected on the same day by a woman who then withdrew money from the victim's bank account via a cash machine. At the time, police said further incidents were reported in Cardiff and Porth.
A bank will never ask you to reveal personal details such as your PIN or passwords for online accounts. If unsure, contact the 159 number, which has been set up by most UK banks to prevent scams such as this one from occurring. Further advice can be found here: Take Five - To Stop Fraud ( takefive-stopfraud.org.uk ) Get the latest news from Cardiff from our newsletter here.
Police are asking anyone who can help to call them quoting reference 2200045193 on 101 or via Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. You can also send them a private message on Facebook or Twitter or go here: https://orlo.uk/AP8e0
