An elderly St Albans man was conned into transferring thousands of pounds worth of savings to fraudsters, leading Herts Police to step up warnings about scam calls.

The incident took place on Tuesday, April 7, when the man in his 60s, was called by a woman and man claiming to be from his bank.

They convinced him that his bank account had been accessed and persuaded him to transfer everything in his account into another one, held by fraudsters.

DI Pete Frost, from the St Albans Local Crime Unit, said: “As anyone can appreciate, having thousands of pounds of your hard-earned cash stolen has a devastating effect and it is therefore vitally important we keep raising awareness of such scams to prevent anyone else falling victim to these ruthless fraudsters.

“The key message to take away is that if you receive a telephone call you’re not expecting you should be suspicious.

“Do not be afraid to end the call. The police and banks would NEVER ask you to transfer money from one account to another over the telephone.”

Herts Police advises people to remember that neither the police nor banks would ask for bank details or PIN numbers over the phone or for people to withdraw money and send it via a courier, taxi or other means.