Retired cabbie was moments away from falling victim to con trick

A RETIRED taxi driver whose quick thinking stopped phone scammers getting access to his life savings is urging other people to be vigilant.

Tony Carter, 69, was eating his lunch when his home telephone rang early on Monday afternoon, purportedly from Barclays Bank advising him that there were some unusual transactions on his three bank accounts, before they also posed as fraud police.

"They claimed to be calling from Visa Verified," said former taxi driver Mr Carter, who lives in Meon Close, Springfield.

"This guy who called me said his name was Ian Gibson and he informed me that some unusual activity had been detected on my bank account."

The man told Mr Carter that a sum of £1,200 had been spent on one transaction in Bolton and £400 on another in Leeds.

"The guy then went and said that they wanted to put a block on my account – I told them that nothing had happened," said Mr Carter.

"They wanted to confirm how much was in my account and asked me to go online and see how much I had. But I knew that banks do not tell you to do this."

The caller then told Mr Carter to ring the telephone helpline number on the back of his bank card to confirm that it was the bank to which he was speaking.

When he rang the number on the back of the card, he heard the same voice, so then phoned the police non-emergency number on 101.

"I rang off and a voice said: 'This is Sergeant Simon Taylor of Essex Police'. But I could tell it was the same bloke."

"I rang off and then rang the 101 number on my mobile phone and police are investigating.

"What the scammer wanted to do was to close three accounts, but I had not given them any information and they were going to issue me with three new account numbers that I could transfer the money in. I would have been quite out of pocket."

The scam is well-known where fraudsters do not disconnect the call so when the potential victim hangs up and then calls their real bank or the police, the conman is still on the other end of the line. Some even play recorded dialling tones down the phone to make the victim think the phone has been put down.

Mr Carter, who describes himself as 'naturally suspicious', hopes that his story will help others not be conned into giving away their hard-earned money.

"I feel quite elated as I've got one over on them," he said.

"There are a lot of elderly people out there who could have easily been caught out. It was quite believable initially."