Borderer conned out of £12,000 as phone fraudsters target Kelso again

The 72-year-old woman was conned out of £12,000 by a telephone fraudster last Saturday, March 2, after receiving a call from a woman with an Indian or Pakistani accent claiming to be from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The female caller told the victim that an audit had been carried out revealing that she had defrauded the HMRC by £5,000 for the tax year 2016-17 and would be arrested and taken to court unless she could pay the money over the phone.

Around £12,000 was subsequently transferred by the victim.

Police constable Nick Walker said: “Please be extremely wary of unsolicited calls of this nature claiming to be from organisations such as HMRC or your bank and never agree to transfer money between accounts based on a phone call such as this.

“HMRC and banks will never contact you in this way and police advice is never to engage with this type of caller. Terminate the call and contact the organisation using the number you would normally contact them on, not the number given by the caller.”

Last month an 80-year-old man from Kelso was conned out of £80,000 by a telephone scam after a male caller claimed to be from the Bank of Scotland fraud team.