Police slam RBS branch over spate of Comely Bank frauds

Four victims were targeted in the spree in the Comely Bank area of the capital by what police described as an organised criminal gang “operating at the highest level”.

Each mark was persuaded to transfer significant sums from their RBS accounts, the Herald newspaper has reported.

Police Scotland detective inspector Arron Clinkscales said that it “beggars belief” that the bank had stood by as the elderly victims were not queried over such unusual transfers.

He said: “They actively seek out and prey on someone’s goodwill and their ability to trust before callously stealing their life savings, often within seconds.

“It’s truly staggering and we are absolutely determined to arrest these criminals as quickly as possible.

“They are extremely intelligent and this should not be underestimated.”

According to the reports, a 73-yearold pensioner had £122,000 taken from him after answering a call from the gang, who convinced him they were from the RBS fraud department.

Over the course of more than a dozen phone conversations, the elderly man was persuaded his account had been tampered with and that he needed to transfer its contents elsewhere in order to safeguard it.

He eventually moved about £82,000 into an account chosen by the con artists following more than a week of repeated calls.

Then – in what police described as one of the first incidents of its kind in Scotland – the criminal gang sent a female courier to his house twice to collect a further £40,000 in cash.

Their elaborate ploy saw them give the pensioner a special code that the courier would repeat, before taking the money off his hands shoebox wrapped in tape.

He only realised he was the victim of a scam when he read about a 90-year-old widow who had been tricked into handing over £49,000 in savings by a gang claiming to be from the RBS fraud team.

In an incident earlier this month that police believe is linked to the others, a woman in her 60s from nearby Ravelston in Edinburgh was robbed of more than £50,000 through a similar ploy.

The fraudsters gave the impression of being able to watch their victims on CCTV as they finalised the bank transfers.

They called up the elderly targets while they were in the bank and asked them what they were wearing – something their victims took to be a precaution.

And the 73-year-old man told how the fraudsters had even given him a fake story to tell branch staff if they asked him why he was withdrawing so much money. By pretending to be from the RBS fraud team, the criminals planted fears that a bank employee could be the one interfering with his account.