Crowdfunder for 91-year-old Yorkshireman conned out of life savings hits £15k target

A fundraiser set up by The Yorkshire Post to raise back a 91-year-old man's life savings stolen by con artists has hit its target in just one day.
Jon Thompson was conned out of his life savings but cruel telephone con artists. Picture: SWNSJon Thompson was conned out of his life savings but cruel telephone con artists. Picture: SWNS
Jon Thompson was conned out of his life savings but cruel telephone con artists. Picture: SWNS

Great-grandfather Jon Thompson from Doncaster was tricked into sending three separate payments of £4,900 after being phoned by a man purporting to work for his bank.

The retired police officer was conned out of £14,700 from the account which he had had for 50 years.

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The scam artists managed to use sophisticated methods to appear as though they were calling from his local branch, despite Jon having software to block fraudulent telephone calls.

Following the story, The Yorkshire Post launched a crowdfunding page to raise back the thousands Jon lost to the cruel fraudsters.

Thousands of readers flooded to donate, culminating in the page hitting its target in just over 24 hours.

Among the donors were Yorkshire chef James Martin and businessman Arron Banks.

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"All your kind words are just so beautiful.

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"We live in such a world of state but with people’s kindness it really does show we can work together in times of need."

At time of writing, the page had raised £15,372 from 476 supporters.

James Mitchinson, Editor of The Yorkshire Post, said: "I would just like to say thank you to those who donated. People who don't know Mr Thompson, coming to his aid like this is actually quite uplifting. They, as we were, are clearly so saddened by what has happened to him that they are moved to help a stranger.

"I am overwhelmed that our readers and those on social media have been able to give this gentleman his life savings back, but more importantly give him back his faith in human beings.

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"It isn't going too far to say I am genuinely emotional about what we’ve managed to turn this into. It just goes to show, local newspapers and their readers - working together - are worth their weight in gold."