FRAUDSTERS stole £30,000 from Hampshire pensioners in a scam involving a fake courier collecting money they have convinced their victims to withdraw from the bank.

An 89 year old woman from Winchester was targeted by the con artist who, posing as a police officer, telephoned her to say that money had been stolen from her bank.

The victim called her bank to verify the information. However, although she thought she was speaking to her bank, she was actually speaking a woman who was working with the fraudster, who had kept the phone line open.

The woman pretended she worked for the bank, and told her to do what the ‘police officer’ had said.

When she spoke to the man who she thought was a police officer again, he told her to withdraw £8,000 from her bank, which was collected from her home on Dolphin Hill, Twyford, by a courier man at around 6.30pm on Tuesday May 12.

On the following two days, May 13 and 14, the victim was convinced to withdraw more money and at 5pm on May 13 and 6pm on May 14, a man arrived at her house and collected more money.

On May 15 the victim returned to her bank to withdraw a further £8,000 but the bank became suspicious and contacted the police.

In total, the victim lost £17,000.

The man who collected the money on May 13 was described as white, slim, aged in his 30s, 5ft 10ins, with shiort brown hair, clean shaven and smartly dressed.

Police are also investigating another incident where an 84-year-old man received a phone call from a person using the same scan.

He was convinced to withdraw £7,000 from his bank which was collected by a man from his home in Compton at around 6.30pm on May 13.

This was repeated the following day and a different man attended the victims address at 7.30pm where he collected £6,000.

The victim lost £13,000 in total.

The man who collected the money on May 13 is described as mixed race aged in his 20s, no taller than 5ft, skinning and wearing a duffel raincoat with a hood.

The man who collected the money the following day was described as black, aged in his early 20s, 5ft 8ins, slim build, and smartly dressed.

It is thought both men used a grey Peugeot vehicle.

Detective Constable Alexander Hall, said: “These offenders are targeting the elderly and vulnerable members of our communities and are stealing huge amounts of money from them; money that these people have worked their entire lives for.

“I am appealing for anyone who may have seen the men in the area of Twyford or Compton to come forward and speak to us. 

“I am also appealing for members of the community to be aware of this scam and for them to tell elderly or vulnerable neighbours, family or friends about it.

"Police officers will never ask people to withdraw money from their bank so if you are asked to do this, it is not real, it’s a scam.

"I am urging everyone to spread this message to any elderly or vulnerable relatives or friends to stop them falling foul of this awful crime.”

Anyone who is concerned about similar incidents or has information relating to these incidents should contact police by calling 101.