Being a former firefighter and police officer, John Thompson, 91, saw himself as a very careful man.
He even maintained the same account in his bank for more than 50 years.
But this was not enough to stop sophisticated phone scammers from tricking him out of £15,000($18K) his life savings.
Watch to find out more of this story below.
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Despite him having software on his landline to screen out fraudsters, the scammers were still able to call him and claim to be from the Nationwide branch in Doncaster. In the aftermath of getting scammed, Thompson said he felt ‘foolish’ and wants to help others avoid the same fate.
He said: “I do feel rather foolish to think I did this and it was a scam – but they were so convincing.
“I’m not a young man anymore – I turned 91 last week. If speaking out helps one other person from falling for the same thing then I’ll be pleased I’ve done it.”
A man claiming to be from the security department of Thompson’s bank called him on a Friday evening in May. For some reason, they were able to circumvent the software that he uses to screen out unwanted callers and made it look like the call was coming from his local bank.
Thompson hung up the first time but 20 minutes later, someone else called claiming to be the bank manager. Thompson stayed on the line this time.
The retiree was informed that a security breach on his account necessitated a transfer of funds to a safer account. Even though Thompson didn’t volunteer any information, the scammer was able to provide Thompson’s recent bank transactions, his account balance, and even the maiden name of his late mother.
Finally convinced, Thompson then transferred the money and only later realized it must have been a scam.
He added: “I called in to my local branch the following day and sure enough, they informed me it was a scam.”
Despite being scammed, Thompson cannot reclaim his money because he moved the money himself rather than had it stolen from his account. This is called an ‘authorized push payment.’
A crowdfunding campaign meant to raise the amount that Thompson lost has so far reached nearly £3,000 ($3,800K).
Action Fraud and South Yorkshire Police have both been helping Thompson, with South Yorkshire Police’s Fraud Protect Officer Andy Foster saying that Thompson’s case was not the first time this has happened.
Foster added: “These fraudsters are professionals, using increasingly sophisticated methods to trick people out of their hard-earned money and life savings.
“The fact they are now able to make it look like they are calling from a local number, or the number of your bank, makes their devious schemes even more convincing.
“A legitimate bank would never contact you to ask you to transfer your money into another account. If you are in doubt, hang up the phone, leave it for a few minutes and then call your bank for advice.”
In the meantime, Nationwide said it was ‘not responsible’ for the loss of Thompson’s savings.
“Mr. Thompson was, unfortunately, the victim of a safe account scam.
“To convince him he was calling from the Society the scammer would have de-registered him from online banking. They then called Mr. Thompson and got him to re-register, which he did.
“Once back in, Mr. Thompson initiated three separate payments and warnings about scams would have been shown to him for each.”
The spokesman added that Thompson kept choosing the ‘pay a friend or family’ button every time he was asked for a payment option.
“To initiate payments to a new payee, members are required to authorize the payment using their card and PIN in their card reader to generate a unique code, which Mr. Thompson put in to authorize the payments.
“In total, payments were made. By the time Mr. Thompson realized he was the victim of a scam and contacted us, all money had been withdrawn. As he authorized the payments, Nationwide is not responsible for his loss.”
Just days after Thompson was victimized, the banking industry came out with a new code of conduct.
The spokesperson added: “On 28 May 2019, the industry launched a new code of conduct to help victims of scams, including supporting the ‘no blame’ fund to help victims, which Nationwide has signed up to.
“Under the new code, the Society has increased the warnings on the Online Bank, Mobile Banking App, and in-branch.
“One of the best defenses against scams is education, which is why the Society does a lot to warn people about scams including education events in branch and at Talkback events, the information in branches, online and on social media as well as regular mailings to customers.”
Replaced!