A CARER says she feels robbed after her account was emptied by a team of conmen posing as police officers and bank executives.
Upset, distressed and "feeling like an absolute idiot", the Chelmsford woman, who does not want to be identified, was tricked by the fraudsters who withdrew £2,300 from cash points in Great Baddow.
She was first phoned by a fake Metropolitan policeman with a real constable's ID, which turned out to belong to a female officer, who claimed her card had been used fraudulently.
As they never hung up the phone, the tricksters hijacked all her following calls to what she thought were her banks and police before a bogus courier collected her 'cancelled' cards.
"I just feel very gullible and really stupid for going for it and every time I recall it I get very distressed and I don't know when I will get over it," she told the Chronicle.
"I feel robbed and really upset. I can't put into words how much it has affected me.
"I feel like an absolute idiot but at the time it felt so real.
"The stupid thing is that I never pick up a withheld call but I was expecting a bank call, my real bank, about a recent PPI claim."
On Monday, May 20, the woman was at home ironing when she got the call from people who claimed to be police. She believes other fraudsters on the same line then posed as bank officials.
"There was more than one person because I was speaking to different people with different accents. The police say they were professionals and that is what they do for a living," she added.
After giving her PIN numbers to cancel her HSBC, Santander, Barclays and Halifax cards, she phoned what she thought was the Metropolitan Police, who then told her they had a man in custody suspected of using her details for online gambling.
After a fake courier came to collect her cards to be terminated, the men took £2,300 across four cashpoints at Great Baddow's Vineyards shopping area.
The woman realised she had been the victim of a scam when she sent an 'incident report' e-mail to a supplied fake address, which bounced back.
"They shot themselves in the foot in the end," she said.
She has now been repaid all the lost funds by three banks, but not the remaining £300 from Santander.
"The reason I thought it was real is because I put the phone down on the original call and I dealt with it myself.
"I only handed over my details, after speaking to my husband and adult son, because all my banks confirmed the same thing," she said.
She praised Essex police for being "fantastic".
Police said there were 40 similar incidents in their catchment since January, mainly in Loughton and Chigwell, and 2,000 across the Metropolitan Police area, in the past two years.
A spokesman said: "Our advice is never give any personal details to anyone, especially over the telephone and to cold-callers."
Anyone who recognises these men or who has information should contact Essex police on 101.
