A Co Down woman was conned into sending thousands of pounds to scammers who were able to clone the phone number of a local PSNI station.
The woman lost over £4,000 in the impersonations scam, but was later able to recover her money from her bank with the help of the Trading Standards Service.
Impersonation scams, where fraudsters pose as trusted figures such as bank officials or government representatives to trick you into sending money, have increased in recent months, resulting in significant financial losses and emotional distress.
The lady received a call from a person claiming to be from HMRC advising her that she owed unpaid tax. As the caller seemed very convincing, she believed that this was a plausible and genuine call.
The scammers also followed up the first contact with another claiming they were from her local police station. She was threatened with arrest and court action if she did not pay.
Under pressure and fearing the consequences, she transferred the sum of £4,000 to the fraudsters, only to realise shortly afterwards that she had been scammed.
After initially being told by her bank that there was nothing they could do as she had sent the money herself, a complaint was raised with TSS and the Financial Ombudsman Service. The bank later refunded the £4,000 plus compensation.
“I wanted to tell my story to prevent this happening to someone else. I’m very happily surprised at the result and would like to thank TSS for all their support and help, it wouldn’t have been possible without them.
“It’s a big deal for me, not just about the money but the emotional impact.”
Yasmin Johnstone of the TSS said: “This scam was highly convincing particularly as they had cloned the genuine telephone number of a local police station and this serves as a stark reminder of the tactics used by scammers to exploit an individual’s fears and trust.
“If you receive a similar call do not make any payments or share personal information. Instead, contact the organisation directly using verified contact details.”
