PPP Fraud Victim Support Officer Helps Recover £145,000 on Behalf of Elderly Scam Victim
Malcolm Philips, PPP Fraud Victim Support Officer, helped recover over £145,000 of 82 year old widow’s life savings following on from the victim’s second scam experience.
The scam started with a cold call to the victim with regards to selling some shares. The total value of the shares was circa £1000, however the victim was led to believe the value she could return, working with them and their ‘client’ would be circa £52,000. The victim was keen to sell the shares, and was told by the scammers that there were ‘warrants’ attached to the shares and she was able to purchase additional shares at a discounted rate.
The victim sent the first payment of £5,292. Upon trying to send the first payment the victim’s bank, HSBC, who she has banked with for over thirty years, blocked the payment and she had to discuss the transaction with the Fraud Team. She explained she was selling shares. The Fraud Team explained that they thought it likely to be a scam as she was sending the money to Indonesia (although the victim believed the scam ‘shares’ company was based in the United States). The victim at this stage, groomed by the scammers with whom she had built trust, told the bank she felt they were a legitimate company. HSBC released the funds into the Indonesian bank account. Following the successful first transaction the scammers subsequently bombarded her with additional requests and fake documents to sign. HSBC did nothing further and never questioned her transfers again, even when she sent amounts of £31,000 in October 2020, £10,954 in November, £18,860 in December, £17,063 in January 2021 and £18,140 in February. The victim continued to transfer all her money to a total of £159,519.
HSBC were aware she was a vulnerable customer, as six years ago she was the victim of courier fraud and was convinced that the scammers, in that instance on the phone, were Police detectives who wanted her to draw cash out of HSBC as there was a fraud at the bank. She drew out £15,000 from HSBC and handed it over in cash to the scammers. In that instance HSBC immediately returned the money to her when the full circumstances were explained.
Once her life savings had gone the victim was too ashamed to tell the family directly what had happened, and instead wrote to them. She also confessed she’d borrowed an additional £2,800 from her nephew to fund what she hoped would be the final payment to the scammers in order to release her funds. The nature of the scam and the relationship they had built with her, meant she felt obliged to keep sending money in order to recoup what she had sent, plus what they had told her was the original share value.
Initially HSBC rejected the complaint raised by the victim (and her family), that as a vulnerable person, who had banked with them for over thirty years and had never previously made an overseas payment was allowed to continuously transfer funds to a known fraudulent account in Indonesia.
It was after this rejection by HSBC that the victim’s family got in touch with Malcolm, the PPP Fraud Victim Support Officer. Malcolm had been recommended to them from someone they knew, who he’d help recover money from their bank following a scam. Although the victim, in this case, does not live in the area PPP covers Malcolm could not in all conscience do nothing. So he gave the family some advice and forwarded the family a letter to HSBC, written on their behalf, that they could edit and send on. The letter directly held the bank responsible for the losses. The family also got in touch with a financial journalist who made contact with HSBC. Within twenty four hours of the family sending the letter from Malcolm to HSBC the bank had responded and accepted responsibility and put £145,000 back into the victim’s account. The family believes it was the combined pressure of the contact from the journalist and Malcolm’s letter that led to the bank having a change of heart.
The family, and the victim, hope that sharing this story will make more people aware of how these scammers work. They build a rapport and trust with vulnerable people and lead them to believe their claims. The family also hope that it will raise awareness of how banks need to take responsibility for their customer’s funds, especially known vulnerable customers, and have the correct safeguarding checks in place and processes followed.
If you think you have been a victim of a scam then you can contact the following for help:
Public Protection Partnership - Malcolm Philips Fraud Victim Support Officer - 01635 519930 or email tsadvice@westberks.gov.uk
Citizens Advice Bureau - You can get advice from a Scams Action adviser by calling 0808 250 5050.
Action Fraud - Action Fraud team on 0300 123 2040 or use their online reporting tool here
