A 57-year-old man has been swindled out of almost £58,000 by extremely sophisticated fraudsters, according to Police in East Lothian.
Officers have advised that all members of the public be vigilant after the telephone bank scam.
It is understood that the man had received a phone call from someone who was claiming to be from his bank and they had said that there had been some fraudulent activity on his account.
They asked the man if he would help the bank and Police Scotland with their internal investigation.
And the con people managed to somehow use the legitimate name of an existing bank employee as well as phone numbers that appeared to be genuine from Police Scotland.
He then transferred his funds having trust in the scammers.
Detective Constable, Garry Mauran said: “This was a very sophisticated scam. The man genuinely thought he was assisting the bank and the police frauds department and made genuine efforts to check this was legitimate before taking action.
“I would like to remind the public, if fraud has been committed on your account, banks will never contact you direct and ask you to transfer money to another account. If they do hang up immediately.
“You shouldn’t feel pressured into taking action and transferring money, a genuine caller will understand if you want to make the relevant checks. If anyone is in any way suspicious I would ask then to get in touch with their bank.”
If you have any concerns surrounding fraudulent activity, or feel you may have been scammed, please contact police on 101.
