Amber Rudd reveals late father's heartbreak over bank scam in calls for fraud crackdown

Amber Rudd today revealed how her late father’s trauma after being conned by criminals posing as bank staff is driving her determination to crack down on fraud.

The Home Secretary said her father Tony, a former stockbroker who died two days before she stood in for the Prime Minister in the general election TV debate, had been called by someone claiming to be from his bank.

Mr Rudd was told that there had been some suspicious activity on his card and, after calling a person he thought was his bank manager, agreed to go with some supposed “officers” to buy a watch to “flush out the fraudsters”.

He subsequently realised that he had been cheated and was left feeling “humiliated and embarrassed” and “mortified” by the crime.

Ms Rudd, who has this week announced the creation of a new National Economic Crime Centre, said this experience of seeing her father suffer had reinforced her determination to ensure that others did not go through the same.

She also wanted to do more to ensure that fraudsters responsible for such crimes were brought to justice and prevented from profiting from their scams.

“Being the victim of fraud can feel traumatic and embarrassing. I know this only too well as my late father was a victim of fraud,” the Home Secretary said.

“One day he was called by someone he thought was from his bank saying they had noticed some odd behaviour on his card. Had he bought an Apple computer today? No, he said. Right — we will do more investigations.

“Concerned, and no fool, he called the bank himself and asked to speak to the bank manager, who he knew by name and had met before. ‘Yes hello Mr Rudd,’ said the manager ‘... yes it’s a genuine call that you’ve received. Could you help us catch the fraudsters? We will send some officers who can advise you how you can help.’

“A few hours later they arrived, persuaded him to take his credit card, get in a car with them (with his carer as he was blind), go to a shop and purchase an expensive watch ‘to flush out the fraudsters’.

He was asked to hand over the watch to the ‘police officers’ who then disappeared.

“It was a con. He hadn’t been speaking to bank staff, he’d been speaking to fraudsters all along. It took a while for the penny to drop and he was naturally mortified. He laid low feeling humiliated and embarrassed.”

Ms Rudd said such crimes were “not right” and that it was similarly “not fair that there is money going into the pockets of criminals .. at the expense of the vulnerable.” She added: “I want as few families as possible to experience what my father went through.”

Official figures show fraud costs the UK £6.8 billion a year. That is equivalent to around £255 per household or more than £100 per person. There are an estimated 3.3 million such crimes each year across England and Wales. Elderly people are often targeted, but the crime affects those of all ages.

Mr Rudd was a successful and well-connected stockbroker, who also appeared as an extra in the wedding scenes in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. He died last year aged 93.