Over £3,000 has been stolen from a pensioner in a cruel scam.
And police in Armagh have warned others once again to be wise to such cons.
The pensioner – who lives within the Armagh district – received a telephone call from his actual bank’s phone number.
Described as a high-tech venture, police say the practice is known as ‘number spoofing’, where scammers can make your phone ID show whatever number they want.
The local man answered the call and was told by the bank that his account had been hacked and he had to transfer money to a different account.
The man transferred over £3,000.
Police have repeated their warnings.
A PSNI spokesperson said: “We warn of scams constantly. There is also the Scamwiseni page which has info on an array of scams.
“However, the sad reality is that it is not the web savvy, Facebook generation who are most at risk from these scammers. It’s the elderly, the vulnerable, those who may not be reading these warnings.”
They have asked people to spend time with those who may be at risk and warn them against the dangers.
And for anyone in doubt as to what is a genuine call, the spokesperson added: “A bank will never call you and demand that you move money from one place to another. If you’re in doubt, hang up, and ring them back from a number that you have already from documents, or even call into your local branch in person.
“Spread the word, and let’s keep our elderly and vulnerable safe from heartless scammers.”
