Blackpool grandma, 76, conned out of £20,000 by cruel fraud who tricked her into sending cash disguised as Christmas present

Diana Halstead, 76, received a phone call from a man claiming to be from the fraud squad at Halifax bank on Tuesday, August 2. He told her that Chinese con artists had been colluding with staff at her local branch to take money out of her account – and that she had to transfer the remainder of her savings into right away.

Her daughter Colette, 51, said: “The loss is painful, but it’s more than that. It’s violating, a strange person coercing your mother in such a way. It’s intrusive. It’s awful.”

Diana, who lives with her frail 86-year-old husband Ken in Halton Gardens, Marton, visited Halifax on Lytham Road and attempted to transfer £14,000 into an account which the fraudster – known only as Robert – claimed he had set up for her.

However, a member of staff suspected it was a scam, and refused to make the transfer.

Colette said: “The scammers told her to say the money was for a house for a relative, and that they were buying a house in London. The Lytham Road branch turned her away, they said they thought it was a scam, and told her to come back with a photo of the property her relatives wanted to buy.”

Undeterred, the scammer then instructed the grandma of one to transfer the money at the Halifax branch on Church Street, in Blackpool town centre, instead.

“They coached her, said ‘don’t worry, you've got another branch on Church Street, go to that one’,” Colette said.

"When she did go into the branch, she didn’t believe anybody in the branch because she had been groomed into thinking they were involved. They advised her against making the transfer, but my mum said they weren’t as bothered. They gave her something to read and warned her, but then the transfer all went through. So she moved £14,000 on the Tuesday.

"Then the scammers called back the next day, and she moved £6,000.”

By this time, Diana had only £1,900 left in her savings account, and did not want to return to the bank.

But the greedy scammer called her again on Thursday, August 4, and told her to withdraw the last of her cash and send it in an envelope wrapped in Christmas paper to an address in Dagenham.

Colette said: "On Thursday morning my mum phoned me, and as I was chatting away she said ‘somebody’s been trying to take money out of my account’. I said ‘if that’s the case, you need to speak to somebody face to face’.

"She messaged me the telephone number… I rang the number and a man answered – and he didn’t say ‘Halifax’. I didn’t really understand what he said. It sounded garbled. I said ‘can I speak to Robert please?’ and there was a pause in his voice, and it was the pause that made me realise it was suspect.

"The penny dropped in my mind. I phoned my mum back and said ‘I think it’s suspicious’.”

Colette then got in touch with her brother, Christian, who managed to intercept the envelope full of cash at the Post Office before it could be sent.

However, the £20,000 Diana sent on August 2 and 3 remains unaccounted for.

Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, confirmed it is investigating.

Colette said: “My mum is coping with getting older, this was another thing a family already under a lot of stress didn’t need. We need to protect our elderly and vulnerable from digital fraud, it is a discriminatory crime, and that is the most hurtful and upsetting aspect of this awful situation.

"I’m so grateful that the Lytham Road bank turned her down. But the scammers had trained her to believe the bank staff were the baddies. The bank should be aware that scammers will put distrust in their victims.

"My mum is frail and elderly. She never moves £14k into another bank account. It all seems so glaringly obvious now.

"The fact that one bank refused her and then the other bank took her not once, but twice, is what shocked me.”

She added: “My mum has lost all her confidence. Before this, I was checking their finances quite gently so they could maintain a level of independence. All that has gone away now. Moving forward, we need to protect my mum.

"We’ve had to put a lock on her account so she can’t move anything over a certain amount for her own protection, and that must make her feel so powerless. It’s so painful to have to do it.

“You never expect it will happen to you. You hear these stories and think how awful it is to lose all that money, but the money is only a fraction of how you feel.

"If there’s one thing both me and my brother are in agreement with is that it mustn’t happen to anybody else. If we can prevent it happening to somebody else, then that’s a good thing.”

An online fundraiser has been set up by Christian with the aim of making up for Diana and Ken’s loss, as Colette said Halifax bank indicated that it would not accept liability.

He said: “Everyone speaks highly of their mother, but a kinder person you could never wish to meet. This page is more about restoring her faith in human kind than her life savings.

"She said herself, it's only money. But the main thing is she doesn't comprehend how people can be so unkind.”

Lloyds Banking Group, which oversees Halifax, was approached for comment.