THE VICTIM of a telephone scam that has targeted Dorset residents has warned people to be on their guard for suspicious calls.

Dorset Police have issued a warning after two residents from the Dorchester area and one from Lyme Regis fell victim to a scam involving someone pretending to be calling from BT.

The scammer claimed that due to unpaid bills their telephone line would be cut off unless they provide card details to pay a small fee.

While the victims were on the phone providing details, the scammers accessed their accounts and helped themselves to money – in one case £120.

One of the victims from the Dorchester area was a man who does not wish to be named because he feels ashamed about falling for the scam.

He said: “He phoned on a Sunday afternoon and said he was from BT and said, ‘Did you realise you are being disconnected at six o’clock this evening?’”

The man said he was warned that he was £10.15 in arrears for his billing and if he didn’t pay the line would be disconnected and it would cost £75 to reconnect.

The victim said he raised numerous questions about the caller’s authenticity but was eventually persuaded to provide his card details to pay the fee. He said: “I just wanted to get it out the way, I wasn’t messing around for the sake of £10.15.

“I gave the details he required and he said it hadn’t gone through and he asked for more information and prised out my date of birth.”

The victim was told the card still hadn’t gone through and was eventually also persuaded to provide his bank account details It was only when his partner used a mobile phone to contact the bank while the scammer was still on the phone that the bank revealed £30 had already been taken out of the account and a further attempt to take out £30 was cancelled by the bank.

The man also discovered that while he was on the phone to the scammer three instalments of £30 had also been taken from his credit card.