Pensioner left 'feeling sick for days' after losing thousands to 'polite' scammer

Eleanor Young, 77, lost thousands of pounds after she was targeted in an elaborate scam which saw her contacted by fraudsters pretending to be her bank before a courier turned up at her door

A woman has told how she was left "feeling sick for days" after she was conned out of £3,500 by a "polite" scammer.

Eleanor Young, 77, was targeted by criminals pretending to be from her bank's fraud prevention team. The heartless crooks provided Eleanor with her own date of birth, phone number, recent spending and other personal information in an attempt to gain her trust. Mrs Young, who lives in Causewayhead in Stirling, Scotland with her 89-year-old husband Joe, believed she was interacting with the Royal Bank of Scotland's fraud department.

A conman, who said he was a member of the banking giant's fraud team, then told her that there had been suspicious activity on her account even providing her with details of her latest purchase. He then claimed that he would have to ask Mrs Young to withdraw the funds from the account so that it could be closed and a new one set up, reports the Daily Record.

Mrs Young made the trip to the bank branch at Stirling's Thistles Centre to withdraw the sum. A "courier" then arrived at her home address to take the sum away and place it into what she thought would be a new bank account with a new bank card to follow just a few days later.

However, after handing over £3,500 to the fake courier, Mrs Young never saw the cash again and no new bank card ever showed up. Speaking to the Stirling Observer this week, Mrs Young said: "I got a call from what I can only describe as a very polite man. He was able to tell me my date of birth, he had my phone number and he could even tell me the latest payments on my account it was very convincing. It was all very frightening. It was totally out of character for me. It almost feels as if that wasn't me. I just felt sick for a few days afterwards not about the money, but that I had been taken in by it all." Mrs Young describes the "courier" who arrived at her home as being a young man, and wearing dark or black clothing and a face mask.

Inspector Steven McCooey, of Stirling Police Office, described the tactics used by the scammers as "highly disturbing". He added: "This is a highly disturbing method which has been used before. We've had several similar calls, with members of the public not engaging with persons on the call, but instead phoning the police to report. " He asked anyone who suspects they are on the recieving end of the scam to terminate the call and contact the police.