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Parkes Police are pleading with the community to spread the word about a current phone scam to which another local senior citizen has fallen victim.
Acting Inspector Scott McWhirter said the latest victim, a 77-year-old Parkes pensioner was scammed out of a large amount of money last week.
“A woman received a phone call from a man claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) who told her she had an outstanding payment owing to the ATO, due immediately,” Acting Inspector McWhirter said.
He said the woman went to a local bank and withdrew a large amount of money in cash from her savings account.
She then returned home and spoke with the man again, who gave her the account details of another local bank to deposit the cash she had withdrawn into.
The woman went to the Parkes branch of the banking institution and deposited a large amount of money.
She phoned the man who told her he would call back once the deposit had cleared, and then informed her she owed a further amount of money.
The caller gave the woman more instructions on how to settle the alleged extra debt.
“As a result she went to a local Service Station in Clarinda Street and proceeded to purchase a large number of iTunes Gift Cards,” Acting Inspector McWhirter said.
“Alarm bells rang for an employee serving the woman and the purchases were queried. Under instruction from the offender, the woman told the employee the iTunes cards were for her granddaughter.”
The employee continued to ask questions until the woman finally revealed why she was purchasing the iTunes cards.
“The sale was immediately stopped by this diligent employee, but unfortunately not before the elderly victim had purchased a large number of iTunes Gift Cards,” Acting Inspector McWhirter said.
The employee phoned Apple regarding refunding the elderly victim's money.
An employee of Apple stated the company do not do returns for activated cards and would not be refunding the money.
Attempts to have the victim’s money returned are ongoing.
Acting Inspector McWhirter he would like to imagine that the elderly victim in this matter be reimbursed her hard earned money as she was tricked into this fraud.
“These large companies would earn this amount of money, which has taken the elderly pensioner years to accumulate, in just a few minutes,” he said.
Police are appealing to the public to be extremely wary about unsolicited telephone calls requesting money for alleged debts.
Police have received several complaints from members of the community that have received telephone calls from persons stating that they are from the ATO and similar organisations.
If you have any concerns, request the name and telephone number of the person making the call and make further enquiries with that organisation about the employee.