Ulster Bank staff save elderly woman from £20,000 scam

by Gráinne Connolly

The PSNI in Magherafelt are encouraging people to make older people more aware of scams that are circulating at the moment, after a woman was almost conned out of £20,000. 

However, a police spokesperson said if it wasn't for "the alertness of Ulster Bank staff" it would have went ahead, only they stopped the scam right at the last minute. 

Even at that minute, they said the older woman "struggled to accept she was being defrauded". 

The PSNI spokesperson is reaching out to those who may be seen as vulnerable or an easy target for fraudsters, as well as their family and neighbours to help: 

"Many struggle to get their head around how it ever gets to the stage where you wilfully give away tens of thousands of pounds without question.

"But take a moment to think of older family, friends or neighbours. Those who are maybe more trusting and less cynical than you.

"People who dont use the internet, who have never heard of a phishing scam, who don’t see all the scam warnings.

"People who were brought up in a much more trusting time, genuinely decent people who struggle to see the bad in anybody, people who aren’t on their guard at all times, yes think about it, you know plenty of these people.

"Well these people aren't just people, they are your grannies and grandas, the older lady across the road, the retired care taker down the street, they are the ones who are being relentlessly targeted by the phone scammers.

"We all have a duty to talk to them and warn them of the dangers, take the time to explain that these calls are happening all the time, help and guide them, assist them in setting up call blockers, talk to them about how these scams are designed to sound completely genuine and extremely plausible.

"The majority of the scams are coming from the far side of the globe and are extremely difficult to shut down, the most effective way of stopping them is through education."