POLICE have issued a warning after an elderly couple were conned out of £3,000 in a gift card scam.

The couple, from Consett, were repeatedly contacted by a man who claimed to be from the Inland Revenue insisting they had a tax debt and demanding they pay it in iTunes gift cards.

Eventually, the couple, who are both 87-years-old and from the Delves Lane area of the town, were told that court proceedings would be started against them unless they paid the bill.

The victim visited a supermarket and purchased hundreds of pounds of iTune cards, as instructed.

The card voucher numbers were passed to the fraudster over the telephone transferring the value, before a family member realised what was happening and prevented further loss.

The incident is the latest example of the scam in recent months. One victim in the Durham Police area lost £2,500 while in October only the quick-thinking of staff in a Durham City shop prevented a woman in her 80s falling victim as she tried to buy £250 of iTunes cards.

Durham Constabulary are asking the public to warn their elderly relatives and friends about the new fraud tactic.

PC Alan Patterson of Consett Neighbourhood Team said: “The victim is a genuine, honest person who has managed his finances carefully all his life, he was worried about a debt and has followed the instructions of the fraudster on the phone.

He added “The victim in this case is heartbroken and blaming himself for being taken in by a persuasive and forceful caller, he didn’t understand iTunes and thought it was a modern method of payment, this may be one of the reasons criminals are targeting the older generation.

“I would urge people reading this to make sure their grandparents and elderly relatives are aware of this and make sure they don’t become victims themselves.”

DS Tony Murray from Durham’s fraud team added: “Although the elderly and vulnerable are being targeted, anyone can be a victim of this type of crime as the criminals are sophisticated and well scripted, they socially engineer and manipulate victims and sometimes know personal details about the victim, this is dangerous as it enables them to sound and look genuine and will pretend to be HMRC, Banks, Police or any business you deal with”.

For further information visit https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/