Westbury man warns others after falling victim to phone scam

A man from Westbury has warned others not to trust anybody on the phone after he lost almost £2,000 to telephone scammers.

Dorian Jones was caught off guard when he received a call from somebody claiming to be part of Amazon’s fraud team who informed him that his account had been hacked and was being used for multiple unauthorised transactions.

Initially, Dorian felt that something was not right because the line the scammer was calling from was crackling. However, when Dorian raised this, the scammer informed him that it was because somebody had hacked his phone and IP address and told him to end the call immediately. When the fake Amazon employee phoned back, the line was clear.

“What really got me was when he said my IP address was compromised,” said the 70-year-old. “He knew everything about me, my wife’s name, my profile, where I worked, my profession. He knew everything, so he must have been profiling me.”

Once the scammer convinced Dorian that he was a legitimate caller, he gained access to Dorian’s card details and stole £95 from his accounts every five minutes while they remained on the phone. By the end of the call, over £1,800 had been stolen.

“It’s like you’ve absolutely been turned upside down, it’s horrible,” said Dorian. “They knew everything about me, and I was completely gutted by it.”

Dorian has since been able to recover his stolen funds through his bank, but now says he trusts no one.

He said, “I don’t trust anybody, from any organisation. Now everything’s automated, they can automate your voice, it could be completely AI, so I just don’t trust anybody.”

Safety and security advice

Rachel Davies from the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust, a charity offering free home security and online safety services for over 60s, said, “Calls with people referring to personal details, banking issues, telling you that somebody spent a load of money on your Amazon account or telling you there’s an unusual transaction on your account, that is what we call an unexpected call.

“Our main advice to people is if it’s unexpected, it’s a red flag. It doesn’t matter who’s on the phone, because whether they’re pretending to be police or anybody from an official capacity, it is a red flag.

“On those occasions, the main advice is don’t engage. Step away from that call and you do your own research, so you take control yourself. Do not rely on that one phone call for information, you have to take a step back and do your investigation as to what they’re talking about.”

Rachel also warned that scammers often keep lines open after the call has ended, so people may think they have called an official body, such as the police, but they may still be talking to the scammer.

“The scammers work in groups, so you won’t necessarily get the same voice,” said Rachel. “This is the problem with fraud and fraudsters; they can be whoever they want to be.”

Rachel advised people to call a trusted friend or family member if they suspect that they have been the victim of a scam call, to make sure that the line is clear.

Anyone who is concerned about scam calls can contact the trust on BobbyVanOnlineSafety@wbvt.org or 01225 256867.

For more information, visit https://www.wiltshirebobbyvan.org.uk/