Woman, 89, loses $200,000 to telephone scammer

The scam, which has targeted men and women from Bundall, Runaway Bay and Tallebudgera, begins with a phone call from a man who claims to be either a police officer, business manager or a fraud investigator from an Australian bank.

The man tells the victim that someone has tried to access their credit cards or bank account.

Several calls over the following days are made to the victim, convincing them that they are working with police and investigators to find those who attempted to steal their money.

The scam ends when a bogus bank fraud investigator calls and tells the victim to electronically transfer their funds into a United Kingdom account immediately.

Gold Coast pensioner Owen Moore, 82, told Nine News he had been targeted after he was contacted by a Southport business to let him know a man named "Jason" had attempted to withdraw money from his bank account.

"They were saying don't tell anybody, don't tell the bank because it might compromise the investigation," Mr Moore said.

The scammers then told Mr Moore to transfer $103,000 to an overseas account, claiming he was helping police with their sting.

"They kept saying it's safe, you'll get your money back, even the transfer fee of $32," he said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Garrett said the scammers were targeting the "most vulnerable people" in the Gold Coast community, with the victims all aged in their 70s or 80s.

"So far we have seven occurrences of this scam on the Gold Coast, with the first reported incident occurring on October 17 at Bundall where an 84-year-old woman lost $84,000," Senior Sergeant Garrett said.

"Five elderly Runaway Bay victims and one at Tallebudgera were also targeted."

Brisbane Times