Elderly Scarborough man defrauded out of nearly £5,000 in phone scam

North Yorkshire Police said fraudsters contacted the victim, who is in his late 70s, via his phone, claiming to be calling from BT.

LATEST NEWS: Police want to identify this man in investigation of attempted fuel theft in Hunmanby

The victim was then told there had been a fraudulent use of his phone and internet line and his assistance was required to catch the suspect.

Police said the fraudster then spent a couple of hours on the phone with the victim getting him to download programs including Team Viewer, a software which allows a remote log on to a computer.

The victim was then told he needed to have an identity created and was asked to hold various words on paper up to the camera on his laptop and take photos of himself.

PCSO Nathan Stuart who has made follow up enquiries up as Scarborough's Fraud Ambassador said: "Fraud and cybercrime is on the increase and we need to ensure that the public are aware of these types of call. This is an upsetting time for the victim as he has lost a large amount of money without any visible warning signs."

PCSO Stuart is now ensuring that the victim is fully safeguarded to prevent this from re-occuring.

A neighbour raised the alarm after visiting the victim and seeing what was happening.

Police have offered the following advice:

- Always verify the caller if they claim to be from a company.

- Do not give personal information out to someone you don't know.

- If anything resembles or is like the information in this report, hang up and call 101.

- Report any attempts to obtain your bank details to your bank to allow then to safeguard your account.