Recently, my elderly father was targeted by a phone scam.

The caller claimed to be a policeman from Portsmouth police, and said that he had arrested a man named Martin Thompson, who was using a cloned debit card apparently belonging to my father – they gave the correct name and address but no other details.

The caller then told my father to phone his bank and apparently rang off.

Fortunately, my father remembered reading about this type of scam, where the caller stays on the line until the victim phones their bank, and then proceeds to get all sorts of personal details from them in order to be able to clone cards/drain bank accounts etc.

Father used his mobile to ring the bank, who were very helpful and checked his accounts, and then to ring the police who confirmed that this was indeed a scam that is currently doing the rounds.

The criminals are using information freely available from the electoral roll, and targeting elderly people living on their own.

My father lives in Poole, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that these scammers are currently working their way through the Poole area electoral roll.

Would it be possible for your paper to print this in the hope that it may be seen by others who may be targeted in future?

Reading a newspaper article about this is what saved my father from falling prey to a nasty scam.

I’d like to hope we could do the same for others. Thank you.

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