POLICE officers and safeguarding teams are set to work together to help people affected by fraud, after an elderly Wombwell woman was fleeced out of £10,000.
When South Yorkshire Police receive information from the anti-fraud line, they will put adult safeguarding officers at Barnsley Council in touch with victims in Barnsley so they can be offered additional support and advice.
Barbara Evitts, 88, from Wombwell, was tricked into spending almost £10,000 on so-called ‘miracle health cures’ after being targeted by sales calls and letters over several years. She had just £30 in her account when her son Paul uncovered the scam. He said he found between 300 and 400 boxes of medication and health remedies at her home, some costing up to £385.
Police see around 600 similar cases each year in South Yorkshire, but said Mrs Evitts’s was the worst they had seen.
Bob Dyson, chairman of the Barnsley Adults Safeguarding Board, said: “I welcome this partnership with South Yorkshire Police. We want to make safeguarding everybody’s business. The reporting of this type of offence is low and I urge anyone who has been targeted in this way to come forward and call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or for people concerned about a vulnerable person to call Barnsley Safeguarding Adults on 773300.”
