A PENSIONER told how she was conned out of more than £500 by a heartless thief who claimed to be from her bank.

Iris Thomas, 85, from Southend, received a bogus call from someone pretending to work for Barclays.

He told her fraud had been detected on her account, and said her bank card and post office card needed to be collected by a member of staff and taken away as a precaution.

Miss Thomas said: “I received a call from a man who told me he was from Barclays. He said there was suspected fraud on my account and I thought he was being genuine.

“I put everything into an envelope and someone came to collect it. They even rang the buzzer and I let then man in."

The fraudster is described as tall, smartly dressed and aged between 20 and 30.

After getting hold of her cards, he headed to a post office in the town and withdrew £250.

The thief them moved to a cash machine to do the same thing.

Miss Thomas quickly realised she had been conned when someone who really did work for Barclays called her to ask why she was trying to empty her bank account.

She wants to warn people to be cautious in case they are also targeted.

She said: “I was more upset than anything but I was angry. They must have gone straight to the post office to take my money out of my account.

“They got away with quite a bit of money but Barclays and the post office have been very helpful and hopefully I will get my money back.

“I want to warn people so this kind of thing doesn’t happen to them.”

A Barclays spokespeman said: “We are sorry to hear that our customer has been the subject of a fraud. Barclays takes all types of fraud extremely seriously and we are continuously looking for innovative ways to combat the problem.

“To support our customers, we have run a number of Fraud Awareness events across our branch network in conjunction with the local Police and Trading Standards to help people to understand how to keep safe.

“Banks try to protect their customers where possible, but it’s really important that people are aware of these scams and take steps to protect themselves.”

Anyone who thinks they have been a victim of fraud can report it on 0300 123 2040 or visit actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud