Elderly woman conned out of €3,000 in phone ‘doctor’ scam

An 89-year-old woman on Monday fell victim to a new ‘doctor’ phone scam and was robbed of €3,000.

According to the police, the Nicosia resident reported the incident on Monday, saying she had received a phone call on her landline in the afternoon from an unknown man.

The stranger introduced himself as an orthopaedic doctor and told her that her daughter had injured her leg after an accident and needed immediate surgery. The scammer asked the complainant to hand over €80,000.

The 89-year-old told him she only had €3,000 and the man then asked for her home address so that he could collect the money.

During the call, he asked the elderly woman for her mobile phone number and then also rang her mobile from an unknown international number, asking her to remain on both lines, thus keeping her from being able to contact anyone else.

Subsequently around 7pm and while she was continuing the conversation, an unknown woman visited the complainant’s home, and took the €3,000. The woman was accompanied by an unknown man, who was driving the car.

Following their departure and after hanging up, the victim contacted her daughter and found out that she had been scammed.

Nicosia CID are investigating the case.

Meanwhile, police once again caution the public to remain vigilant for phone scams and in the event of receiving a similar call to inform police immediately through the nearest police station or district office, or the citizen’s line at 1460.