A PENSIONER has given a fraudster "the best part of his life savings" at his home in Shirley.
The 79-year-old man, of Shirley Road, is the latest victim of a courier scam.
On Tuesday, a man rang up pretending to be a police officer and told him employees at his bank were using his card fraudulently.
The conman then convinced the pensioner to take out £5,000 from a cashpoint to hand over to a 'courier' who he said would collect it for forensic examination.
The male courier turned up that afternoon and collected the money in an envelope.
During the initial phone call, the suspect had told the man to put the phone down and redial 101 to verify it was a genuine police call.
However, the trickster left the line open throughout so the elderly man was duped into thinking he had verified the call.
The courier collected the money at 3pm on Tuesday, May 21 and the courier is described as approximately 5ft 8ins with short brown hair.
He was said to be wearing white trainers, blue jeans and a grey top and drove off in a dark Audi vehicle.
Detective Sergeant Kenny Windsor, of Croydon CID, said: "The victim in this case has handed over the best part of his life savings to fraudsters.
"It is an elaborate scam so it is important that people are aware so they can prevent themselves becoming a victim.
"If you have any elderly or vulnerable friends or relatives, please make them aware they should never give out their bank card, PIN or attend a cash machine and withdraw money like this - police will never ask people to do this."
Anyone with information should call police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
