An elderly Wokingham resident, who was scammed out of £9,500, has been redeemed after a bank initially refused to pay up.

The scam occurred when a fraudster contacted the pensioner on their mobile and persuaded them to purchase £1,500 of golf subscription gift cards.

Following this transaction, the scammer coerced the residents to withdraw £8,000 in cash from the bank which they sent to the scammer.

Throughout this process, the bank failed to recognise anything unusual and therefore they didn’t stop the money from being taken out of their account.

After reporting the scam, the victim worked with both the Public Protection Partnership support officer and Wokingham Borough Council to attempt to claim back the money lost in the scam.

Wokingham Borough Council stated that after failing to take responsibility for the losses and failing to take steps to protect the customer, the Ombudsman was notified.

The Ombudsman sided with the victim resulting in their money being returned to them by the bank.