Peebles resident loses thousands to telephone fraudster

Police are investigating after a man claiming to be a TSB bank employee talked his victim into parting with several thousand pounds yesterday.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We are again urging the public to be vigilant following a TSB phone scam reported to us by a Peebles resident.

“The male caller said there had been a number of suspicious transactions on their account and requested that they transfer money from both current and savings accounts to another account in order to safeguard them.

“Unfortunately several thousand pounds were transferred before suspicions were raised. On contacting the bank they confirmed this was a fraudulent call.

“Please be extremely wary of unsolicited calls or emails claiming to be from financial organisations or HMRC etc.

“Never to engage with this type of caller or click on links in emails. Never agree to transfer money between accounts or to new accounts.

“Terminate the call or delete the email and contact the organisation using the number you would normally contact them on, not the number given by the caller.

“Ideally do this using a different phone than the one the original call was received on, as the scammers can sometimes leave the line open for a short period.

“Do not be deceived by the incoming phone number displayed on your mobile or home phone as these are easily spoofed.”

For more information on visit the Police Scotland Website http://www.scotland.police.uk/…/identity-theft-fraud-and-sc… and Get Safe OnLine https://www.getsafeonline.org/ .