Bank scam fears after 'close shave'
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A RETIRED fisherman from Avoch is counting his blessings this week after a close shave with fraudsters who tried to trick him out of his life savings.
Great-grandad Ian Hossack was seconds away from transferring £8000 from his Bank of Scotland account straight into the hands of a scammer.
Posing as a police officer from the National Crime Squad, the con man called Mr Hossack at home in Ormond Terrace in the middle of the day and convinced him a bank clerk at the Dingwall branch was helping themselves to the contents of his bank account. They said he had a duty to help them stop subsequent attempts.
But the 78-year-old grew suspicious at the last moment and foiled the "scandalous"plan.
"It was a right close one," he said. "You're soon taken in when they say they're the police. What are you going to believe?"
The drama unfolded last Thursday
Mr Hossack said: "They said money was being pilfered out of my account by one of the bank staff and they wanted to catch them. They said £3500 had already been taken out. They said they needed me to go straight to the bank and transfer £8000 out of my account and put it to the TSB and they gave me an account number."
The cheat persuaded Mr Hossack that once it was done the money would be refunded.
He was told the the cashiers in the bank were being monitored by secret cameras hidden in the branch and without any further explanation he was assured this £8000 transaction would identify the light-fingered bank clerk.
"They warned me not to say a word about this to any of the staff in the bank," he said. "They were persistent."
Concerned, Mr Hossack jumped into his car and drove straight to the bank. But his last-minute decision to check his account balance saved the day.
He said: "I handed over my bank card to the lassie and I said 'can you tell me how much money is in my account?'"
It showed that no money had been taken out, prompting him to raise the alarm over the scam bid with the manager and police.
He added: "It's just terrible phoning someone and posing as the police. Scandalous. The police said I was very lucky that I thought to check the account balance first before making the transfer. These people should be put away for a long time. I just want to make an awful noise about this to save some other por soul."
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "It's important to remember a genuine caller from your bank would never ask you to transfer money during an unsolicited call."
