Now four phish scam victims

SHETLAND police say that four people are now known to have lost “significant” sums of money as a result of a phishing scam targeting the isles over the weekend.

Inspector Eddie Graham said they had received a total of 41 complaints from local people saying they had received calls from a man with a Scottish accent claiming to represent Santander Bank.

Police sent out an urgent media alert on Sunday afternoon to warn people against handing over bank account details to anyone cold calling over the phone.

Four people did hand over their details, and it has now emerged that all four have lost out financially as a result. Initially it was thought only two people had actually lost money as a result of the fraud.

“From our perspective a very small percentage of the 41 people who reported receiving calls actually suffered financially,” Graham said.

“Hopefully the press release heightened people’s awareness of the scam, and we have not had any calls since Monday.”

Police are making enquiries about the source of the scam, which is believed to have originated outside Shetland.