Security News > 2021 > September > Fake 'BT' caller fleeces elderly victim of £30k in APP app scam

Police have issued an urgent warning after an elderly man was scammed out of £30,000 by phone fraudsters pretending to be from BT. The incident happened last Thursday, prompting West Mercia Police to issue a bulletin warning people to be on their guard against suspicious phone calls.

Once the app was downloaded, they then convinced the man to log in using his online banking details and thereafter to transfer a sum of money to another account for "Safekeeping."

"In a statement, West Mercia Police said:"We received a report from an elderly victim that he was telephoned and told by the fake BT staff that there was suspicious activity on his account.

"Once he had downloaded the app, the offenders then took control. They showed him a transaction of £30,000 into his current account and said that he needed to transfer it into a different account for safekeeping," they said.

"The victim has since found out that the original £30,000 had been transferred from his own savings account into his current account, which he then transferred to the 'safekeeping' account, which was the offender's," said police.

In APP fraud, a customer is tricked into authorising a payment to a third-party account using a variety of underhand methods such as scam phone calls, text messages, and emails.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/09/27/fake_bt_caller_fraud/