A 76-year-old man from Bristol has described how scammers nearly stole £700 from his bank account after he fell for a phone call from criminals posing as his broadband provider. Colin Vinapp, a former Chelsea Pensioner, said the experience knocked his confidence in using technology.
Colin told The Mirror that the scammers convinced him there was a problem with his WiFi router, and he followed their instructions to visit a website. This gave them remote access to his computer. 'Everything seemed so genuine until I realised they had taken control of my PC and the screen was moving without my control,' he said.
Realising the scammers would target his online banking, Colin drove to his local bank branch while keeping the scammers on the line to stall them. The bank intervened and blocked the attempted withdrawal of £700. However, Colin had previously lost £70 to a fake website while renewing his wife's driving licence, which led to police involvement and changing passports and bank details.
New research from BT Group shows that a quarter of over-65s receive multiple scam calls, emails or texts per week, with those aged 55-64 encountering the most scams. To help, BT Group and charity AbilityNet are offering free digital skills sessions for over-65s across the UK, including in Bristol. Sir Geoff Hurst, the 1966 World Cup winner, has joined the campaign to encourage older people to embrace technology.
Colin said the sessions taught him ways to protect himself online and showed him that many others feel the same way about technology. Victoria Johnson, Social Impact Director at BT Group, said: 'Older generations shouldn’t feel left behind, especially since having basic digital skills can offer so much independence.'
