Scammers dupe gran into handing over £500

Jul 29 2010

A GRAN handed over £500 to people she thought were loan sharks threatening her son.

But the 55-year-old, from Burnbank, was the victim of a callous con that left her angry and out of pocket.

The mum-of-three grown-up children, who asked not to be named, now wants to warn others not to fall for the trick which is the subject of a police probe.

She told the Advertiser how, shortly before 7pm on July 2, she received a telephone call from a man purporting to be her 36-year-old son.

“The voice said ‘Ma, it’s me, James, I need your help,’” explained the woman.

“The voice said he gambled away money on the tables and roulette and had borrowed money and couldn’t pay it back.

“He said loan sharks were after him and he asked me to get him £500 to pay off the debt.”

The woman added: “There was such anguish and upset in his voice.

“He said to me ‘don’t tell my dad; let’s keep it between me and you.’

“He said he was at a mate’s house and would send her brother to pick up the cash.”

She was told to hand over the money to a “man in a black and white tracksuit” who would be waiting outside Di Maggio’s restaurant in Hamilton’s Gateside Street.

Convinced that it was her son who had phoned, the woman eventually confided in her daughter who withdrew the money from their bank accounts.

Little more than an hour after the initial phone call, the two woman drove to Gateside Street for the ‘rendezvous’.

There, she handed over the cash, in an envelope, to a dark-haired man of slim build aged between 19 and 25.

The man, who had stubble and gaps between his teeth, told the woman her son would contact her in two hours.

When that time elapsed and there had been no call, she telephoned her son and discovered to her horror that she had been duped.

Early next day the family reported the matter to Hamilton police.

The woman added: “The thing is that my son doesn’t smoke, drink or gamble.

“However, I was taken in by the anxiety in the voice and my concern that dangerous people were after him.”

A police spokesman told the Advertiser that they had not heard of this type of scam before.

She added: “The advice we would give is that, if a family member telephones in similar circumstances, make sure their identity is correct, perhaps by asking to telephone them back.

The spokesman could see how the woman, feeling emotional and distressed, had been taken in, but said: “Don’t hand over money to strangers.”

People concerned about their safety or that of their family should contact police.