Pensioner loses life savings in DVLA scam

Graham Ruffle, 69, said he had not heard the warnings earlier this year when the DVLA revealed a 20% rise in scams reported to their contact centre - and the 'convincing' scammers have cost him £7,000.

Back in February, the DVLA said there had been 1,538 reports during the last three months of 2019, with scammers targeting unsuspecting customers with links to services that don’t exist and messages which were fake.

Mr Ruffle said: "I received an email from the DVLA first noting I had recently updated my driving licence and asking me to update my details by clicking on a link.

" Then I had a Bank Alert by text claiming there had been a withdrawal from my account of £199.99 to Argos and asking me to confirm it was mine.

"I was asked to click 'N' for No and 'Y'' for yes. Within 30 seconds of me clicking 'N' I got a call from a man claiming to be from the bank informing me I had been the victim of a scam and needed to transfer my money into a safe account.

"I was also told to be safe to go into the bank and transfer £2,000 of my partner's money into the safe safe account.

"Fortunately the transaction would not go through and that is when the bank investigated and found I had been the victim of a scam.

"The worrying thing is the scammers were so convincing," said Mr Ruffle. "It has all been very distressing and I have lost sleep over it.

"The bank is currently trying to help us recover the money and we have reported the incident to the police."

Last month, Lincolnshire Police have renewed their warning over impersonation and courier fraud after a further spike in incidents.

PCSO Dave Bunker of Skegness said he was very sorry yet another member of the community had been targeted.

"These scammers are very convincing," he said. "Another popular one this summer has been callers claiming to be from the police investigating a crime involving a family member and a cloned bank card," he said.

"They ask for bank details, which the police would never do, and tell the victim to call them back on 161.

"It is at this point they do not hang up and when the victim calls 161, they are still on the line but another voice answers saying 'police' and identifies the 'officer' dealing with the case before 'putting them through' - or in reality just hands the phone back to the original caller."

Inspector Jacky Barnsley for the coast said: “Luckily, none of the victims handed over any money. We would like to thank the public for their assistance so far in informing their elderly and vulnerable neighbours but we would ask if you can please keep visiting them to reinforce the message that a police officer or bank will never ever ask for you to hand over any money or for your bank details.

"Please never give out any details to anyone who calls asking for them.”

Detective inspector Kara Nicholson asked for residents warn vulnerable neighbours. She said: “Please take a few minutes out of your day to visit your vulnerable and elderly neighbours and tell them about these scams.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned as these scammers are targeting the elderly and vulnerable. We need to make them aware that the police, their bank or any other legitimate organisation would never ask them for money.

“If anyone calls and asks for money please hang up the phone and call us on another line. If you do not have another line then please ask a neighbour to call us.

“Scammers can be very clever and sometimes use a phone number that replicates your bank’s telephone number. They also make out they are police officers. Do not be fooled and please hang up on them.”

If you receive a call and are unsure, please hang up the phone immediately and call 101 on a different line. Always call 999 in an emergency.

You can also report the call to Action Fraud on 0300 1232040.

Operation Signature works alongside other organisations, such as Lincolnshire Trading Standards, to raise awareness of this and many other types of fraud.

Follow Op Signature at its dedicated Twitter account: @Op_Signature

For more information on fraud visit: https://www.lincs.police.uk/news-campaigns/news/2019/police-impersonation-fraud/Operation Signature works alongside other organisations, such as Lincolnshire Trading Standards, to raise awareness of this and many other types of fraud.