A PETERSFIELD couple robbed of £6,500 of savings by cruel phone scammers say they feel embarrassed for falling for the con – and guilty because they lied to their bank.

The pensioners worked as a Surrey Police mechanic and a nanny before retiring to Devon. They moved to Petersfield about 14 years ago to be near their son and daughter who live in Liphook.

The mechanic said: “A retired neighbour who was a police detective inspector suggested we should warn people about the scam and how believable and convincing these scammers are.

“I was so upset and ashamed they had fooled me, especially after I had doubts about what was happening.”

The nanny added: “It’s so embarrassing – we are reasonably intelligent but they were so convincing we fell for it.

“We know not to give out bank details over the phone, but they already had ours. Apparently scammers can buy details of bank customers for £10 a name.

“I would warn anyone contacted by these people not to even talk to them – just put the phone down.”

The traumatised couple in their 80s live on the Barentin Way estate and say their five-hour ordeal began at about 2pm on Tuesday, February 4.

The scam uses a clever phone trick to convince people they are talking to real police officers, or to their bank’s fraud team.

After identifying themselves as a police officer, the scammers urge their targets to ring genuine police and bank fraud hotlines.

The mechanic, who completed his national service in the military police, said: “But the scammer doesn’t ring off, so despite dialling the police or bank you remain connected to his phone, and he can hear everything you say.

“Once they know who you are ringing, another scammer ‘answers’ and impersonates either a police officer or a bank fraud hotline expert.”

When the scammer first rang the pensioners, he said he was a Metropolitan Police fraud squad officer and gave a fake police ID number.

He claimed a bank card from the HSBC bank in Petersfield had been used to buy a TV in the Oxford Street branch of Argos in London.

He said the card was issued in their name but the transaction would be cancelled so there would be no loss to the churchgoing couple.

They were then asked to help catch bank staff allegedly ‘laundering’ counterfeit bank notes from the HSBC branch in Petersfield Square.

Another call, supposedly to the bank’s fraud team, resulted in the promise of a £250 reward for helping with the fake investigation.

Despite misgivings, the couple said they would withdraw their life savings of £6,500 so the notes could be checked.

The nanny, who grew up in Swanmore, said: “I even agreed to lie that the money was for a secondhand car if we were asked.”

Her husband, who spent most of his youth in Headley, said: “It was in a sealed plastic bag and when we got home the scammer asked us to put on gloves so our fingerprints wouldn’t go on the £50, £20 and £10 notes, and we read out the bank note numbers to him.

“While they were supposedly checked, we were asked to describe the staff who issued them.

“He then said the notes were counterfeit and would be collected by a courier for use as evidence, and that we would be contacted to give a statement for use in any court case.

“We were also asked to take £50 from the bag to pay the courier when he arrived, then seal it and put it in an envelope and to tape it up.

“A password was agreed for the courier to give, and he arrived in a taxi about 7pm, gave it, took the envelope and left.

“I have always trusted people and don’t want to change, but this has certainly damaged my faith in human nature.”

The nanny added: “We were saving the money from our pensions for our children. Now we will have to start again.

“We just feel so stupid. It’s really shaken our confidence – everyone should be aware, these scammers are very clever, very believable and very convincing.”

A police spokesman said there had been 11 similar incidents affecting Petersfield and East Hampshire residents, aged from 53 to 93 years old.

He added police and banks would never ask anyone to withdraw money.