AN 82-YEAR-OLD Oxford woman who was minutes away from handing over £12,000 to scammers pretending to be police has warned others not to be taken in by the con.

The woman from East Oxford, who does not wish to be named, said she felt 'embarrassed' by the experience, saying: "I didn't think I was the kind of person who would be fooled by something like this."

The grandmother-of-three was alone at her Hollow Way home on Wednesday when she received a call from a man claiming to be a sergeant with the Metropolitan Police fraud squad.

She said: "He told me my money had been used in a major crime involving Lloyd's and that the police needed my help to work out if more notes were counterfeit.

"He sounded so plausible, but it was when he said to ring up and call 999 to check his story that I really believed him because the woman I spoke with said what he had told me was the truth."

The pensioner said she now realises when she thought she had hung up to call 999 the line had been held open and passed to a woman who was also involved in the con.

She was told not to contact anyone and leave the house immediately to take out £12,400 from her Lloyds account, feeling so under pressure that she called a taxi to take her to the Carfax branch.

She said: "The man was calling me every two minutes asking me where I was, how long it would take me to get home. It's so you don't have time to think or talk to anyone.

"I got to the bank and I had been told to lie and say the money was for my grandchildren to go backpacking.

"The cashier, who knows me because I've been using the branch for years, asked me if I was sure. I felt awful lying to him but I repeated what I was told to say and took the money."

It made her start to think though about how unusual the request was.

She said: "It was such a lucky thing I couldn't find a taxi right away because as I was sitting on the bus I finally had time to realise what was happening wasn't right.

"The man was still calling me (on mobile phone) and I lied and pretended I was further away from home than I was. When I got back I called the police and they came over straight away."

She said she was told by officers the scam, which has been used to trick several elderly people in Oxford recently including an 80-year-old woman who handed over a 'large amount' of Euros to a man at Oxford Station in May, would likely have led to her also being told to give the money to a courier.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said the force was urging people to be aware of the dangers of telephone courier scams and ensure relatives who are vulnerable or elderly were warned.

He added: “Your bank or the police would never ask you to meet them at a location and hand over money or anything valuable, or ask you to withdraw cash and then come to your house to collect it.

“Your bank or the police will never call you asking you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone or offer to pick up your card by courier."

"If you have any doubts regarding the legitimacy of the call please disconnect your telephone at the wall, plug the phone back in and call 101, as fraudsters sometimes use a technique of leaving the phone line open so that the call goes back to them rather than the police."

A spokesman for Lloyd's said they could not comment on individual cases but added: "Our branches have been trained to ensure that customers are made aware of scams and encourage them to take a moment to think before taking action when appropriate, especially when looking to make high-value payments or withdrawals."