News / Phish scam caller nets £14,000
A SHETLAND resident who fell victim to a scam phone call last week has lost £14,000 from their bank account, local police have confirmed.
The incident follows a police warning last month after four people fell foul of a phishing scam from someone claiming to represent Santander bank.
In last week’s incident the islander refused to divulge their bank details to the caller, but after ending the conversation they lifted the receiver again to call their own bank and warn them of what transpired.
Unbeknownst to them, the fraudster was still on the end of the line and pretended to be from their bank, took down their bank details and withdrew the five figure sum from the account.
Shetland area commander Angus MacInnes said this was the largest loss from a scam call in Shetland, and repeated his warning that people should be on their guard against such calls.
“We had a number of frauds in September. We put out some warnings and that stopped the calls in Shetland for a number of weeks, however in the past week we have had a report of another fraud,” the chief inspector told BBC Radio Shetland.
“This time was the most substantial in that £14,000 was taken from someone’s bank account from a cold caller claiming to be from a bank.
“The message is: Don’t give your bank details over the phone.”
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