AN ELDERLY and confused Cleethorpes man was scammed out of almost £4,000 by a fake company that pretended he was entitled to claim mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI).
The 83-year-old pensioner from Chichester Road, was conned out of the cash after a company claiming to be the "British Council" phoned him up and told him he had been mis-sold £5,000 of PPI.
They "baffled" him with facts and figures and told him his claim had already been verified by Revenue and Customs but in order to retrieve his money he must send them £3,600, which he did.
But when he hadn't heard anything a few weeks later, he reported it to Humberside Police and an investigation to track down the "company" is now underway.
Detective Chief Inspector, Gerry Darling said: "The victim was contacted by a company suggesting that he was due a significant PPI claim payout.
"He hasn't heard anything from the company since sending off the money to them and so reported the incident to police.
"An investigation is now underway to try to identify the company that has tried to obtain money by effectively conning the victim out of it and we have advised him on what precautions can be taken to prevent further money from being obtained.
"He may also be able to try and get some of the money back."
The man, who did not want to be named, is one of several people to have fallen victim to the convincing scam, which has also been reported in East and West Yorkshire and Stirling and Clackmannanshire in Scotland.
Now police and Trading Standards are warning other residents to be on their guard for any similar calls and to contact them straight away if they think they may have been a victim of such scams.
They also want the families of elderly or vulnerable people to listen out for any incidents of such scams, bogus callers and tradesmen so that they may stop the scams before it is too late.
North East Lincolnshire Council Trading Standards has seen an increase in potential scams since news broke UK banks had mis-sold millions of pounds worth of payment protection insurance and people were able to claim it back.
A Trading Standards spokesperson said: "More recently, PPI scams have been seen in which an unsolicited telephone caller tells their victims that they may be entitled to receive significant compensation for mis-sold insurance.
"The caller again seeks the victim's bank card details to process the refund. But instead of being credited, the victim's account is only debited.
"People with genuine grounds for PPI claims are advised to contact the bank or financial body which originally sold them their cover, because it is these organisations that are legally obliged to compensate for mis-sold policies."
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