Elderly Victim Conned Out of Thousands in Gold Scam

Elderly Victim Conned Out of Thousands in Gold Scam

Elderly Victim Conned Out of Thousands in Gold Scam Credit: Pixabay

AN elderly victim has been conned out of thousands of pounds in a gold scam.

A woman has been conned by a fake police officer into buying £25,000 worth of gold in west Wales, before handing it over to a person that she thought was a member of the police force.

Police are calling the crime “courier fraud”, and the crime is usually carried out by someone pretending to be a police officer that is trying to help the person avoid being a victim of crime. This can often be a complex plan and is mainly used to target the elderly.

Initially victims receive contact from a fake police officer by the phone, then they are told that they have been targeted by fraudsters and their bank accounts could be attacked.

The convoluted plan often means the fake police officer engages the victim in an undercover police operation, which of course is fake. They are normally asked not to talk to the bank, or to tell anyone else what is going on to safeguard the operation.

Dyfed-Powys Police’s cybercrime team’s DC Gareth Jordan, said that recently victims had been called by a fake police officer from Paddington Police Station. He explained how “The fake police officer tells them about fraudulent activity on the person’s bank card, or tells them that they need to transfer money to another account due to suspicious activity.

“It is the prelude to courier fraud, where someone comes to pick up the bank card, after extracting all the details such as the PIN from the victim, or getting the person to go to the bank to withdraw money that can then be collected or sometimes transferred into other accounts.” The final part of the plan can involve investment fraud and gold purchases.

Police are warning people to be aware of the scams.


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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