A police investigation is underway after a 75-year-old woman and 82-year-old man from North Berwick were conned into transferring more than £29,000 from their accounts by a telephone scammer claiming to be from a bank on Thursday, June 22.
The caller convinced the couple to move around £4,000 into a Santander account and £25,000 into a Barclays account.
Community Inspector Andy Hill said: “Such incidents are fortunately rare, however, there are a small number of despicable individuals who specifically target the elderly and vulnerable to defraud them out of money.
“Often these fraudulent callers sound extremely convincing and authentic but we would urge the public to remain vigilant.
“If you are in any doubt that a call is not genuine then please hang up the phone and report the matter to your bank using either a contact number that you 100% know to be genuine or by attending at your bank in person.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
