Vulnerable fraud victim, who was threatened in his own house, did not get refund until we intervened
The stranger on the phone claiming to be an inspector from the National Crime Agency and told Geoff Harper* that he was the victim of a complex fraud involving banks, police and, possibly, members of his own family. Harper was asked to help track and identify the fraudsters and to withdraw the money from his three compromised bank accounts for safeguarding. The call was the start of a 16-month ordeal that left Harper homeless, penniless and suicidal.
At least three other elderly victims have been defrauded of their life savings in the same scam – a version of what is known as courier fraud, and two have also lost their homes. Unusually, some appear to have been subsequently coerced into helping to defraud other victims in a nationwide operation that police have equated with modern slavery.
