AN ELDERLY man has been defrauded of more than £5,000 after falling victim to a courier scam.

At around 11.25am on Wednesday, May 1, Northumbria Police received a report that an 83-year-old male from Jesmond had been defrauded of £5,200.

The victim was contacted by fraudsters who claimed they worked for his bank and asked him to withdraw funds from his account. He was then contacted by a man claiming to work for the Metropolitan Police, based at New Scotland Yard and told to hand the money over to a courier.

A courier then turned up at the man’s address and made off with the money.

Detective Sergeant Mick Rainbow from Northumbria Police’s Central CID said: “We would encourage anyone with information about this incident to contact ourselves or Action Fraud.

“Courier fraud is an awful offence which preys on the vulnerable and the elderly and manipulates the trust they have in the police.

“Please be aware that no police force would ever ask you to withdraw money or purchase valuables and send these to us using a courier. We would never ask anyone to be a part of a live fraud investigation and if you receive any phone calls asking you to do this, please be aware it is a scam.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting incident 362 of May 1.