Cancer patient, 80, has bank card stolen on her doorstep in new scam sweeping London
Londoners have been warned online scammers are now turning up to front doors to snatch victim’s credit cards.
Joy, an 80-year-old cancer patient, said she was at home in Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, three weeks ago when she fell victim to the scam which left her ‘unwell for days’.
So-called bankers from her local TSB branch on High Road Leytonstonerang her up to tell her to meet one of their representatives at her front door.
During the six-hour call, the scammers convinced Joy to have her card ready in her hands and told her to ‘get herself together’ after she revealed she nearly died during a cancer operation last year.
Once at the door, a thief then snatched off her, before running away£300 and trying to take £900 more.
Joy told Metro: ‘A woman pretending to be from my bank rang me up, and they told me they were moving branches.
What to do if you’ve been scammed
1) Tell your bank The bank will be able to stop further money being taken from your account without your permission.
2) Ignore the scammer if they continue contact If the scammer comes to your door, calls you, or sends you a message, ignore them, but keep a record of what’s happened so you can report it.
3) Call the police Especially if you have transferred money directly to the scammer. Call them on 101.
4) Try Action Fraud They should give you more information on your situation and give more guidance on how next to proceed. The number is 0300 123 2040. It is run by the police and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau
‘But then they said were giving me a new card and to wait at the door with the old one as they were coming to pick it up and drop off a voucher for it.’
Although Joy said she was apprehensive at first and ‘questioned everything they said’, the thieves were able to win her trust by revealing part of her PIN number and knowledge of the area ‘only a local would know’.
She waited at the front door before a man aged around 18-years-old approached.
The scammer down the phone had even given Joy a ‘code’ to say to confirm he was from the bank.
But before she could even begin speaking, the thief snatched her card out of her hands and jumped in a getaway car.
Joy said: ‘He hardly said anything, he just passed me this “voucher” – which turned out to be a SIM card – and then grabbed the card out of my hands.
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Research by Uswitch has found that...
The most common mobile and online scams Brits are targeted by include business impersonation scams (68%), bank impersonation scams (57%) and investment scams (50%).
Over 65s receive on average 295 suspicious or cold calls per year – compared to just 50 calls from their grandchildren
5.7 million Brits have been targeted by a mobile phone scammer 10 or more times
‘He ran down the road and got in a car waiting for him, which then sped off so quickly I couldn’t see the registration plate.’
Chillingly, the scammers her back again just minutes after he card was stolen to convince her not to report the theft.
The scammer – this time a male – told her he was from TSB’s fraud squad and said they were already aware of the theft giving the thieves around 24 hours to splash out using her card.
Joy said: ‘They took out around £300 soon after taking my card, but after that it wouldn’t work again.
‘They tried to spend £900 on it a few hours later but thankfully the card had reached its limit.’
When Joy arrived at the bank branch the next day, staff told her she had no appointment and they had never contacted her in the first place.
Get in touch
Have you fallen victim to a similar scame? Get in touch by emailing our news team at webnews@metro.co.uk.
The ordeal has left Joy believing she ‘can’t trust anyone again’ and has ‘affected her whole life’.
‘I could barely walk to the bank I was in that bad of a way,’ she said. ‘And sadly I know I am not the only one.’
Joy said she knows at least one other person who has had a very similar scam carried out on them.
She said: ‘I think they are targeting people who live in Walthamstow. The scammers knew everything about the area – including nearby petrol stations and bus stops.
‘I want to make people aware – particularly the elderly – that this can happen to anyone.’
TSB told Metro bank branch staff would never ask for a pin code and will also never visit customers’ homes unless in exceptional circumstances
They said: ‘This is a very sad case that shows the cruel lengths fraudsters will go to.
‘We’d always advise checking the credentials of someone at your door, and contacting an official number to confirm whether they’re genuine, or a scammer.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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