AN OAP was conned out of 18,000 by a heartless crook claiming his free NHS prescriptions would end after Brexit.
The scam started when Harry, 86, received a phone call from man who introduced himself as someone from the “NHS Brexit Team” on July 5.
Harry was asked to confirm what medication he was being prescribed and because he thought he was speaking with someone from the NHS he obliged.
The caller told Harry two of the items he listed were on the “warning list”.
He terrified Harry into believing there would be shortages of these medications so soon as Brexit happened on October 31, The Mirror reports.
The OAP, from Cardiff, was immediately concerned and asked what to do.
The mystery caller told Harry that the NHS was able to “advance order” these medicines from Europe but he would need to pay for this upfront.
INNOCENT VICTIM
He said the NHS would pay him back in three equal instalments in November, December and January.
Harry suspiciously asked why he had to pay when he had never been asked to do so.
The caller said it was the only way the NHS was allowed to advance order medicine for individuals.
Harry then agreed and asked how much he needed to pay.
The conman asked Harry to confirm how much money he had in his bank and building society accounts, claiming his bosses needed to make sure they weren’t take too much cash away from their patients.
Harry had a total of 25,312, some of which was in his savings account.
He was told to transfer 18,000 to a specific account and after doing so, Harry never received any medicine and never heard from the crook again.
The NHS are not running any sort of scheme like this and they would never ask you to pay like this.
The Department for Health and Social Care and NHS Counter Fraud were contacted for comment.
