Cambridgeshire elderly woman scammed out of thousands

Jackie Bullen said her mum was shocked to find she had been scammed and thousands taken from her accounts

A woman is issuing a warning after her elderly mother was scammed out of thousands of pounds by a conman during a trip to her local supermarket.

Jackie Bullen's mother, who is in her 90s, was distracted by a "charming" stranger at the Tesco car park in Royston, Hertfordshire, last week.

Her daughter said her mother's purse was stolen while she was being distracted, and her credit cards used.

She said the thief had distracted her with claims her car had been hit.

The incident happened about midday on Thursday.

Ms Bullen said: "She lost money, credit cards and her mobile, which is her lifeline."

As part of BBC Be Scam Safe week to cast light on the exploitive industry, Ms Bullen spoke to the BBC about her mother's experience.

Ms Bullen said her mother, who lives in south Cambridgeshire, was parked at a disabled bay and was putting her shopping into her car when she was approached by a "charming man" with a foreign accent.

He told her someone had backed into her car and her bumper had been dislodged.

'Known scam'

Ms Bullen's mother checked and thanked him and placed her bag into her car and left, but once she got home she realised her mobile phone and her purse which had £120 in cash was no longer in her bag.

"Initially she panicked and thought maybe she had left it in the supermarket," said her daughter.

"She called me from her landline and said she was driving back [to the store].

"They told her they thought it was stolen and it was a known scam."

She tried to cancel her credit cards, but each call took 30-40 minutes.

Jackie Bullen said: "It became an absolute nightmare because we couldn't get through the calls quickly enough. It became far more complicated than we could ever have expected."

Within about an hour, about £5,000 had been taken from one of her accounts and significant amounts spent using her credit cards.

She later found that thousands had been spent with a technology retailer which was not a "normal spend for her".

Some of the money has been refunded to her from the credit card companies.

However, she wants more to be done to help those who have been scammed.

"Credit card companies should have an emergency number that you call and they immediately block the card," said Jackie.

A UK finance spokesperson said: "The banking and finance industry is committed to stopping these terrible crimes and supporting victims.

"Banks have dedicated fraud facilities to help customers, and victims should immediately contact them for help.

"If unauthorised fraud does occur, victims are also protected and data shows 98% of cases are reimbursed."