Quick-thinking Northants police officers rescue elderly man's savings after he posted £2,500 to scammers

Two quick-thinking police officers chased down an elderly man's savings after he fell victim to phone scammers.

The 79-year-old man received a telephone call on May 25 from someone claiming to be from the fraud department at Barclays Bank. The scammer convinced him that he needed to post £2,500 to an address in Sheffield.

The man posted the money before he informed his daughter, who was immediately suspicious and contacted the police.

Two officers, PC Danny Winslow Williams and PC Sean Lonergan - raced to the local post office to see if the letter could be retrieved. It, unfortunately, had already been collected and was on its way to the Royal Mail depot in Swan Valley.

The officers, after speaking with a woman who worked at the depot, then managed to isolate all of the packages received from that area. The depot employee - called Rose - then tracked down and intercepted the letter containing the victim's savings out of 200,000 total packages.

The money was then returned to its rightful owner, who was very "grateful", police said.

LPA Commander for Northampton, Superintendent Kev Mulligan, said: “This was a cracking result for the victim of this crime who, as a result of the quick-thinking of PCs Winslow Williams and Lonergan, didn’t lose a penny to these shameless scammers.

“Both officers here showed incredible presence of mind with a complete focus on getting the best result for the victim of this crime and I’m really proud of the pair of them.

“I’d also like to thank the staff at the Swan Valley depot, particularly Rose, who was helpful from the moment we made contact and understood the need for speed to ensure the package was quickly retrieved.”

Earlier this month, a scammer who conned people out of almost half-a-million pounds to fund his high-stakes gambling habit and lavish lifestyle, was jailed for over 5 years. Northamptonshire Police have issued the following advice to avoid becoming a victim of fraud:

◾ Remember that neither a bank or the police will ever ask for your PIN or arrange collection of your bank card or money

◾ Your bank or the police will never ask you to make high value purchases or withdraw cash to send for examination

◾ Your bank, the police and any genuine organisation will never contact you and ask for your online banking log-in details, including a one-time password, or to move money to another account

◾ If you receive one of these calls, end it immediately and contact the police and your bank via a different phone line, using a number you have verified. If you do not have another phone line you can use, hang up and wait five minutes until the line has fully cleared

◾ If you think you have been defrauded, report it online at Action Fraud or call Northamptonshire Police on 101.