Scam sufferer, 63, mocked by fraudster who taunted ‘you’re so thick’ after stealing hundreds of pounds

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A 63-year-old lady who had hundreds stolen from her checking account in a phone rip-off has revealed the fraudster taunted her afterwards by saying: “You’re so thick.”

Wendy Falconer was caring for her husband after coronary heart surgical procedure at their caravan in Tywyn, Gwynedd, when she acquired a name from a man who pretended to be from her financial institution.

She stated the quantity seemed to be that of her financial institution, in a scamming method often known as spoofing, and that the person appeared “so professional” and knew some of her particulars.

After sharing a safety code that allowed him to ship £400 from her account to his, the scammer cruelly mocked Mrs Falconer over the cellphone.

“He was laughing, saying I was stupid, his language was unbelievable. And he said if you’d like to go to your app now, you’ll see me take your money,” Mrs Falconer instructed the BBC.

“Why did he need to do that? He’d already got the money. He was laughing so much at me and the language was just awful, calling me names.

“He said ‘you’re so thick, you’re so stupid’. I was just in shock.”

Mrs Falconer, who later acquired a refund from her financial institution, added: “I didn’t sleep that night, because all I could hear was his voice, laughing at me and this abuse.”

UK Finance stated that £580m was misplaced to fraudsters within the first half of 2023, with romance scams and id theft being among the many fastest-growing classes.

Detective constable Rachel Roberts from North Wales Police, which is investigating the crime, stated spoofing was a typical rip-off – including that it was not simply banks’ cellphone numbers that could possibly be mimicked.

“We also see victims being contacted by telephone with suspects claiming to be from Amazon and quite often other utility companies, Microsoft, maybe even Apple,” she stated.

“A few victims have reported to us that they’ve had phone calls purporting to be from their GP, or from their local pharmacy, asking for that victim to provide bank details so that they can pay for their prescriptions or pay for a delivery service.”

Ofcom recommends by no means giving out private info in response to an incoming name or to depend on caller ID as the only real means of identification, particularly if the caller asks to hold out an motion which could have monetary penalties.