Councillor is targeted by fraudster

A con artist, it was found took money from his joint account using a fake cheque in his name,

Thankfully, the cash was quickly refunded but the experience, he said, reminded him of how easy it is to become a victim of crime.

It is not yet known how the fraudster got a hold of Mr Tinsley’s details but two cheques were withdrawn from his account for the total sum of £2000. Last Tuesday, as Mr Tinsley was dropping the children off to school he was called by the fraudster around 8.30am telling him that there was some unusual activity in his bank account. The caller, then asked him to clarify some personal details relating to his account.

Uncomfortable, at giving out details over the phone he told the caller that he would call into a local branch.

“I just thought it was just too early to get a call at that time of the morning,” he said.

He called into the bank asking why he would get a phone call so early in the morning and was referred to the bank’s security. He left putting it down to just a crank call.

Meanwhile, Mr Tinsley’s wife called into a different branch of the bank where she was lodging a cheque.

She told the cashier of the strange phone call her husband had that morning.

The cashier checked the joint bank account and found that their account had been frozen.

It was discovered that two cheques had been taken from his account.

“I was told that the money was lying in another account,” said a surprised Mr Tinsley. “Thankfully it was spotted and the bank was great. They refunded us the money straight away. If I had been busy and did not look at my account until the end of the month it could have been too late.”

A bank spokesperson said, “We take any incident of fraud very seriously and employ extensive security measures to safeguard customers money.”