Pensioner loses £25,000 in scam BT call as arrest made

An elderly man was duped into sending £25,000 to a fraudster in an alleged BT scam. The victim, a man in his 70s from Southam, was received a call from someone claiming to be from BT.

The caller, who had the victim’s account details including the amount of his last bill, said there was a problem with his internet and that it had been accessed illegally. Police say the victim was told to download a piece of software onto his computer, allowing remote access to his computer.

The scammer reportedly said that that his Amazon account had been hacked with an item added into his basket. The caller went on to claim that the man's bank account had been hacked with a payment being made from it.

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He allegedly asked the victim to transfer £25,000 to a new account , which he did. Then, the victim realised it was a scam and contacted his bank.

They were able to recover some but not all of the money. Police began an investigation into the incident on September 5 last year and, at the weekend, arrested a 36-year-old man from Wolverhampton on suspicion of fraud.

He was taken into custody for questioning.

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