Peterborough 87-year-old woman conned out of £7,000

Cambridgeshire Police said the call happened earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the force said: “When the victim received a call on her landline from a withheld number earlier this week, she was surprised to hear a man’s voice on the other end, claiming to be an officer from Cambridgeshire Police.

“He told her they’d arrested a man for theft and discovered he was in possession of counterfeit money. The caller also told the victim that £7,000 had been taken from her account but subsequently returned and they needed her help to investigate how this happened.

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“He told her to stay on the line while they connected her to her bank. After a quick dial tone, the victim was put through to a woman who claimed to be from the bank and confirmed the officer’s story.

“The victim was instructed to withdraw £7,000 from her account to assist with the police investigation and she was encouraged not to tell the bank staff what she needed the money for as this would hinder proceedings.

“She was told to take the money home and that someone would come over to collect it using the code word “orange 123”.

“Sure enough, shortly after returning home, a man came to the victim’s door and recited the code word before taking the brown envelope of money from her.

“Later that day it began to dawn on the elderly woman that she had been scammed and the money was gone.

“An investigation is now ongoing.

“Sadly, our officers are seeing more and more of these cases of courier fraud scams and they are urging people to be vigilant and look out for vulnerable neighbours and relatives.

“Remember, neither the police nor your bank will ever call and ask you to withdraw money as part of an investigation.

“If in doubt, hang up and call police on 101 from another line to check before you act.”

For more on fraud, visit Cambridgeshire Police’s website at https://www.cambs.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/fa/fraud/