QUICK-THINKING by taxi drivers prevented two elderly women in the Bordon area falling victim to fraudsters.
Hampshire Police has issued a warning following the incidents last week when the victims were contacted by men claiming to be police officers investigating fraud allegations.
In both incidents, the women were persuaded to take taxis to the bank to withdraw cash which would later be collected by the men, who claimed they would check if it was counterfeit.
Fortunately, each of the potential victims mentioned the calls to taxi drivers during their journeys to the bank. The incidents were reported to police and neither woman parted with any money.
The first incident took place between 4.15pm and 4.45pm on Monday, February 20, when an 84-year-old woman was asked to withdraw £5,000.
A similar incident took place between 2pm and 4pm on Thursday, February 23, when an 85-year-old woman was contacted.
Detective Constable Jo Martindale, from Basingstoke CID, said: "We are urging members of the public to be vigilant regarding these scam calls.
"The police will never ask for your bank or card details and they will never ask you to withdraw money from your account.
"Thankfully, these two incidents were reported to police by taxi drivers. Without this intervention, the victims could have parted with large sums of money.
"The offenders appear to be targeting elderly people so I ask members of the public to keep an eye out for elderly relatives and neighbours."
Anyone who receives a phone call of this nature, or any call that they suspect is a scam, should hang up and call the police on 101.