Scammers con £1.5m from elderly victims

The scale of the losses has prompted police to launch a campaign to try to make more people aware of the problem.

Detectives say a common feature of the crimes is that the victims are invariably aged over 60 and have not used the internet to do any research into their investment.

Detective Constable Melanie Spanton, of North Yorkshire Police’s major fraud investigation team, said: “We all have a responsibility to keep vulnerable friends and relatives safe from fraudsters.”

The so-called boiler rooms are normally based overseas and are best likened to a call centre, which makes calls to potential victims offering investment opportunities.

These can be in a wide range of commodities from shares, land investment and fine wines to carbon offset schemes and others.

However these turn out to be fraudulent and the investor’s cash is instead pocketed by criminals.

The scammers even sometimes offer a fraud recovery service to previous victims under the pretence of helping to recover their losses - but this actually results in them losing even more cash.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said last night: “So far this year North Yorkshire Police is aware of at least £1.5m being obtained fraudulently from victims across the county, with some victims’ losses running to tens of thousands of pounds.”

Yesterday’s warning is not the first time the force has warned of conmen preying on elderly victims in the county over recent months.

People in Harrogate and York were warned to be alert after residents were tricked into handing over their bank cards and personal identification numbers (PIN) to people claiming to be from their bank or a utility company.

Officers from the force have teamed up with Age UK, North Yorkshire County Council Library Services and the NHS to deliver fraud prevention advice.

Utilising a booklet produced by Age UK called Avoiding Scams ,North Yorkshire Police has joined forces with a range of partners to make the booklets available to the elderly in all libraries, hospital wards for older patients and doctors’ waiting rooms across the county.

The booklet urges people to seek advice before they invest and warns: “Older people can present an attractive target for scammers, not least because they are more likely than younger people to have easily accessible savings. Some older people are isolated and may not have anyone to go to for advice.”

Det Con Spanton added: “While there are many websites with warnings about this type of fraud widely available on the internet, our experience is that victims are not using computers to conduct research and are vulnerable to this type of fraud.

“We believe that the target audience for this campaign will be receptive to receiving trustworthy advice whilst visiting a doctor’s surgery or using a library.

“The booklet is available online at the Age UK website and I would urge those with internet access to view it and talk about the contents with those who may be at risk.

“As well as containing prevention advice on boiler room frauds the booklet also provides sound advice on a wide range of other scams.”

She urged anybody who believes they have been a victim of this type of crime to get in contact with police on 101 or report it directly to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040.

For more information on fraud and how to report it visit the website: www.northyorkshire.police.uk/actionfraud