How a police traffic stop saved an elderly man thousands of dollars
An elderly man in South Australia has saved thousands of dollars after being stopped by police in a routine traffic stop.
The 84-year-old man was on his way to deposit "thousands" of dollars into the hands of a scammer on Monday morning in Adelaide's CBD.
On his way, patrols witnessed the man doing an unauthorised turn and pulled him over.
When police questioned the driver and reminded him of the traffic rules, the man said he was in city "looking for a specific bank to deposit a large amount of money".
"A conversation with the man revealed he was in fact the victim of a scam after receiving a phone call from someone purporting to be from a major bank," SA Police said.
The police officer who pulled over the man was from the fraud section of a major bank, and advised him of the dangers.
The 84-year-old driver was told that two illegal transactions had been made form his account and was instructed to withdraw a hefty sum of money and deposit it into another account in an attempt to thwart the criminals.
The police say they saved the man "thousands of dollars" by stopping him on the way to the bank.
Local authorities have used this instance of a reminder to vulnerable members of the public to be on the lookout for scam phone calls.
"Never give your personal, credit card or online account details over the phone unless you made the call and the phone number came from a trusted source," police said.
"Never send money online or transfer money to someone you haven't met in person."
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