Family's warning as crypto scam cost man £3,000

Scammers have been offering crypto investment opportunities

The family of an elderly man conned out of close to £3,000 by "compelling" crypto scammers haved warned others to be alert.

A scammer contacted the South Tyneside man, who is being kept anonymous to protect his identity, over the phone in August suggesting they could help with online banking, and built up a relationship with him before offering an investment opportunity, a family member told the BBC.

"They'd been calling him for weeks, when I caught a strange number calling I knew instantly it was a scam," they said. "He'd already transferred over around £3,000 and he'd been set to send over another £8,000."

Northumbria Police said crypto scams had been "rising" in recent years.

The scammer used information he had learned from the victim to create a fake story involving cryptocurrency, before talking him through ways to move money into the crypto account.

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The family member said: "They'd told him [the victim] that when he left his job years ago, he was awarded with free Bitcoin.

"They then sent him graphs showing that it was now worth something in the region of a quarter of a million pounds. It was all very convincing.

"He'd only ever had a building society account for his finances but over time the scammer had shown him how to open several accounts in his name, both with High Street chains and online banks like Revolut."

'Shock to the system'

The man, under instructions from the scammer, then deposited nearly £3,000 with cryptocurrency seller Coinbase.

Despite the family's attempts, they were unable to withdraw the funds.

A Coinbase spokesperson said it encouraged all its customers to "thoroughly research any investment opportunity they come across online".

"We also share tips with our users on how to spot investment scams," they said.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, Action Fraud and the Financial Conduct Authority have been alerted to the scam.

The family member added: "I've been told that it is very unlikely that we will be able to get the money back.

"It's a shock to the system, really, as that was a large chunk of their life savings just gone.

"I don't have words for these scammers, if they were any kind of decent human being if they would have compassion."

Pallion Action group holds a monthly meeting to help residents stay alert to scams

In Sunderland, community hub Pallion Action Group holds monthly meetings to help educate pensioners about the different types of scams.

Session leader Ken Newby said it was a way of teaching older members of the community about potential threats.

"You can struggle to keep up with the amount of scams there actually are and especially for a generation that aren't as familiar with technology or social media, it can be very daunting," Mr Newby added.

Claire Lawson, economic crime protection officer at Northumbria Police, said: "Crypto scams can be very dangerous as we have no way of tracking the funds like we would with banks.

"My simple advice is if you don't know much about it please don't invest."