A concerned relative of the scam victim has been trying to stop the large volume of scam letters her relative receives – sometimes up to 150 per week
THE FAMILY of an 89-year-old Enniskillen woman who lost more than £14,000 after crooks targeted her through hundreds of scam letters say they have been left devastated.
The pensioner lost her life savings to the scam letters which arrive in bundles every day amounting to some 150 letters each week.
The victim’s family, who does not want to be identified, say she became so engrossed by the scam letters that she neglected herself and instead of heating her home she would send money to fake companies.
It became such an addiction for the great-grandmother that she would make daily trips to the Post Office where she would send off all of her pension.
Her devastated family told the Fermanagh Herald how the letters claimed she had won thousands of pounds.
“We realised how bad it had become when she started neglecting herself and not putting the heating on and not wanting to buy anything for the house and if something broke she would not pay to have it fixed,” her grand-daughter explained.
“She was that engrossed in the letters she would sit in the chair all day reading them and would forget to eat and lost weight and then had to be hospitalised.
“It’s devastating and so hard to see your grandmother go and lose her whole life-savings and these ones who are doing it to her and getting her addicted to it.”
All of the letters are personally addressed to the pensioner and come from right across the world.
The fake companies claim she has won anything from £5,000 up to £1m and ask her to send off a minimal payment of around £24.
After the family discovered what was happening they decided to re-direct her post.
“I couldn’t believe how many letters she is getting a week. I’ve over 700 letters in my car and that didn’t take too long to gather. “As a family we noticed about two years ago so we got on to Trading Standards, the local MP and other authorities and they couldn’t do anything about it and told us that they had to be posted because they were stamped.
“She’s went mad asking where her post was. Even today if she got a letter claiming she won £10,000 she would still send of a £20 postal order to them.
“The lady in the post office became worried about her because she was sending that many postal orders and over £100 from her pension a week. All her savings are gone so she has spent over £14,000.
“She still doesn’t believe they are scammers. It’s caused a lot of stress and I would love to get my hands on these people knowing the amount of money they have taken from her.
“She became so effected by them that there would be times we would call to the house but she would ignore us but she’s getting better now.”
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