VIGILANT bank staff saved an 82-year-old man from being conned out of his life savings.
The frail pensioner had gone into a branch of the Bank of Scotland in Glenrothes, Fife to withdraw thousands of pounds from his account.
But suspicious staff called the police who discovered the man has narrowly escaped being a victim of a con.
Officers discovered a man had approached his elderly victim at his Kinglassie home and asked him for the large sum of money for roof repairs.
As the pensioner did not have the money at home, the fraudster and another man drove him to the Kingdom Shopping Centre in Glenrothes in a white transit-style van.
The pair did not enter the bank with the pensioner.
Safer Towns Officer, PC Ross Fisher, said: “This is a despicable act, where two people have tried to exploit an unsuspecting elderly man. Had it not been for the vigilant Bank of Scotland staff , the two men would almost certainly have defrauded the elderly man of a large sum of money. I would like to thank the staff at Bank of Scotland for their outstanding efforts in preventing this crime.”
A spokesperson for Bank of Scotland said: “We are delighted that the actions of our quick thinking staff prevented the customer from being another victim of fraud. This incident is a reminder for us all to watch over the elderly members of our community and we would urge people to be on their guard for unscrupulous scams such as this.”
