Huntingdonshire pensioner scammed out of £2,000 by phone fraudsters

A woman in her 80s from Huntingdonshire been scammed out of almost £2,000 by phone fraudsters.

Her story was shared in Facebook post on the Policing Huntingdonshire page, which has had more than 60 shares.

The post describes how "another elderly resident" had fallen victim to fraud.

It says the victim was contacted by a woman claiming to be from Microsoft, who said that her computer had been hacked and it would cost £4.99 for it to be repaired.

This led the woman to give out her 16 digit card number, and the scammers managed to take remote control of her computer and log into her online banking.

The caller then told the victim that she was entitled to a goodwill payment due to the inconvenience caused, but as they were only able to make large payments, she would have to return a substantial amount of money.

The victim believed she had received the money from them, but it transpired to be her own money another account belonging to her.

In order to ‘return’ the money she believed Microsoft had sent her, the victim made a MoneyGram transfer at a Post Office.

She is currently out of pocket by almost £2,000 and police say it is unlikely that the cash will be recovered.

The news comes after Diane Quarrie from Stapleford told Cambridgeshire Live that she had been contacted by phone scammers claiming to be from HMRC. She said she knew of six women in the area who had been contacted by scammers.

The National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre warns the public to ignore any unsolicited emails or phone calls from allegedly well-known companies, as they are likely to be a scam.

Common scams include receiving a phone call from ‘Microsoft Tech Support’ to fix your computer; being asked for credit card information to ‘validate your copy of Windows’; receiving unsolicited emails with attached security updates; and being told you have won the ‘Microsoft lottery’ - which doesn’t exist.

Many scammers purport to work for well-known companies, and if you are in doubt as to the legitimacy of the person contacting you, contact the firm directly to check if they have tried to be in touch.

If you think you are being scammed, you can report it to Action Fraud by calling them on 0300 123 2040 or visiting their website.