Elderly Nottinghamshire man lost his life savings in Bitcoin scheme

The online company managed to access the victim's computer remotely and accessed his internet banking to transfer the money to a separate account.

The victim had signed up to the scheme via a Bitcoin website having done research online and initially invested just £400, but by the end of the conversations he had lost his life savings.

Detective Constable Jason Jenkins from the Economic Crime and Cyber Unit, who is leading the investigation, said: "This is a really sad incident which has seen a vulnerable and elderly man who lives alone losing a large amount of money after being scammed.

"The man decided he wanted to invest in Bitcoin as he had heard a lot about it and thought it was for him after researching it online.

"Having signed up, he immediately started to get phone calls and emails from the company. The calls continued, with three or four daily messages telling him to invest more and more money with them.

"Sadly the victim was persuaded to invest more. However, further money was taken out of his account after he allowed someone to take over his computer to access his online banking. At that point he lost £60,000 from his account to the company.

"His bank got suspicious and stopped any further internet banking transactions, before he rang the force. We were able to officer support and advice and ask him to stop answering any emails and phone calls from the company.

"We are continuing to work closely with Action Fraud regarding this particular incident and support the victim.

"Remote access scams are sadly common these days. Scammers posing as IT departments, network providers or online shopping companies to trick victims into relinquishing control of their devices to hack into their accounts and steal sensitive data.

“Never allow remote access to any of your devices. You may get asked to type something into a web browser, this can allow the caller to make it look like you are being hacked or to gain remote access to your devices.”

You can report fraud online via the Action Fraud website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ or on 0300 123 2040.

Find out more about how to stay safe online through the force's website: https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/cybercrime.