UK - Couple in 80s scammed of their life savings threatened with arrest

Absolutely amazing case. A Yorkshire, UK couple in their 80s have been scammed for their life savings of £200, 000 (over US$300,000), their car and have even borrowed on their house. But....

Now police have had to threaten to arrest the couple, to stop them laundering money that the scammers have cheated from other victims. The elderly couple are convinced the scammers (based in India) are actually investigators trying to crack the case, and need funding. They refused to believe local police who have warned them repeatedly that the criminals are not law enforcement.

They visited over 90 Western Unions to send £40,000 in fake names to to the scammers, which was actually from other victims that the scammers had directed into the couple's account (telling them it was from a rich relative who wanted to fund the 'investigation')

The couple's three adult children have only just found out and are deeply shocked. Police even asked welfare agencies to check the couples mental/physical health to try and stop what they called 'brainwashing'. Reports came back that they are very fit and very intelligent. The police officer I just heard being interviewed seemed stunned, and also sad that it has come to this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26292664

zwei
Thanks for opening thread and linking story, even though....
...it is a sad one.
Making 90 WU money transfers?
Over a 3 yr period?

Snipped from linked story:
"....The couple's son told ...: "They were always waiting for the telephone call. Holidays were cancelled, their car was sold."
Their daughter added: "They were changing the telephone number without telling us so we couldn't contact them. Then they sold the house without telling us...."

A difficult situation for son and dau, too.

um, if my parents in their 80's

1. cancelled holidays
2. sold their car
3. changed their phone #

I would be checking on them very dilgently before it got to the point where they

4. sold their house

I think it's sickening that no one cared enough to be checking into their welfare 3-4 years ago and now it has come to this.

LadyL said:

um, if my parents in their 80's

1. cancelled holidays
2. sold their car
3. changed their phone #

I would be checking on them very dilgently before it got to the point where they

4. sold their house

I think it's sickening that no one cared enough to be checking into their welfare 3-4 years ago and now it has come to this.

Click to expand...

You might be checking diligently but it sounds like the couple doesn't listen to anyone, including local police, instead believing the crooks. And since the couple are deemed in the possession of their mental facilities, it's hard to stop them from doing these things.

LadyL said:

um, if my parents in their 80's

1. cancelled holidays
2. sold their car
3. changed their phone #

I would be checking on them very dilgently before it got to the point where they

4. sold their house

I think it's sickening that no one cared enough to be checking into their welfare 3-4 years ago and now it has come to this.

Click to expand...

Even in the UK, there is a basic belief that until an elderly person does something completely off the wall that hurts others, they have the right to live the way they want independently.

In the US, there are many elderly parents who are making horrific financial decisions, and there is nothing their children can do about it until it becomes a crisis (again it needs to hurt OTHER people).

You can call Adult Protective Services, but again--elderly people have "rights" and you cannot force decisions upon them until their actions are life-threatening to themselves or others.

In the radio interview I heard on BBC4's You and Yours, the police chief said the couple never told their children a thing. Police went behind the couple's back straight to Western Union, to get the the company to close the account, and also got their phone number changed several times. Unfortunately, the couple kept passing their new number to the scammers ( meanwhile, not telling their kids why they had done it). They even took away her computer.

It looks like confidentiality/privacy issues meant police couldn't let the children know what was happening, sadly.

The chief did give a little psychological insight into what was going on; he said the wife looked forward to the daily calls and found the idea of helping an 'investigation' and tracking down the people who scammed her exciting. The scammers were saying things like "We've tracked the criminals to Geneva, need money to bring them back now!"

I can't help wishing that lady had joined WS instead - she'd probably have been a great sleuther and would still have her life savings if she had.

*A very similar group of scammers hassled me for months. They even blocked my phone for a day because I used the one Indian swear word I know and offended them! It never stopped, but luckily I moved. They are very persistant.

Sorry, double post. Will try and put some links here instead in a minute.

Here goes:


Here is the radio interview. Ignore the totally surreal tiny news clip about mangoes at the beginning; typical Radio 4 madness. Lol, ignore the intro that says it's about the cotton industry too - interview is after that!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01ssskq

Age UK, avoiding scams. PDF.
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/documents/en-gb/information-guides/ageukig5_avoiding_scams_inf.pdf?dtrk=true

Another elderly couple scammed out of their life savings.
http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/new...idge_couple_conned_out_of___78_000/?ref=var_0