I’m an 87-year-old dementia carer for my wife – evil scammers stole £6k after I made a HUGE mistake
AN ELDERLY dementia carer lost £5,000 after scammers gained access to his computer.
Jim, 87, from Doncaster, is a full time carer for his wife, who has advanced dementia, and is himself in recovery from prostate cancer.
Jim was conned out of £5,000 after scammer gained access to his computer[/caption] The 87-year-old appeared on BBC One’s Dirty Rotten Scammers[/caption]The devoted husband does all the chores around the house and is also happy to lend a listening ear when he gets a phone call.
Unfortunately, heartless fraudsters have many times taken advantage of his good-hearted nature to con him out of thousands of pounds.
He appeared on BBC‘s Dirty Rotten Scammers, to share his latest story of being a victim, where he lost £5,000 after fraudsters took control of his computer.
The pensioner came across an advert for a Bitcoin investment scheme and decided to invest £500.
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Once he had signed up, he had a call from a salesman, asking for access to his computer to set up the investment.
Jim said: “They got me to open my laptop, get it on twin screen, he said I’ll do everything for you.
“He said at any stage, if you want to, you can withdraw your money, whenever you like.”
After Jim had finished speaking to them and they had processed the payment, he found out that they had in fact taken £5,000.
What to do if scammed
CALL your bank immediately using the number on the back of the card.
Tell Action Fraud, report it online or by calling 0300 123 2040 (Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm).
It will tell the police and give you a crime reference number.
Some banks offer automatic refunds – but it does vary.
Current rules say if you have not authorised the payment then you should get a refund as long as you did not act fraudulently or with “gross negligence”, for example, giving away your PIN number or password.
In 2019 some banks, including Barclays, Santander and HSBC, signed a voluntary scam code launched in 2019.
TSB has a fraud refund guarantee in place where it will refund you as long as you are clearly an innocent victim of a con.
Using a credit card when shopping online gives you more protection as you are covered under the Consumer Credit Act, which says you are entitled to a refund if items are not delivered or are not as described.
You can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not happy with how your complaint was dealt with.
Jim contacted his bank, but it was too late to recover the funds.
He said: “I worry about the thousands of old people like myself that don’t know anything about scams.
“These things play on your mind, they make you worry, what’s next.
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“Are they going to get any more money out of the account?”
Hoax callers and fraudsters have targeted the elderly husband many times, defrauding him out of a total of £6,000.
Dirty Rotten Scammers airs on BBC One, on weekdays at 10am.
Jim’s family revealed that he is an easy target for con artists – due to his friendly persona[/caption]