AN 81-year-old victim in Stroud lost over £44,000 following a telephone scam. 

This comes as the Stroud dialling code (01453) was targeted by telephone fraudsters pretending to be the police

Another of the victims was 83-years-old and handed over £10,000 in cash.

The Forest of Dean dialling code was also targeted, with six incidents reported in 11 days.   On each occasion the fraudster claimed to be a police officer. 

The victims were told that someone had paid counterfeit cash into their bank account, and the victim was to withdraw the money at their local branch. 

The victims were then told to hand the money over to a “police courier” who would visit them to collect it. 

Some victims were instructed to send funds to a “safe” bank account.

Police advice on fraud can be found here - https://bit.ly/3plRjCp

All the above information came from a neighbourhood alert.