Four people have been arrested after a 76-year-old woman from the island was duped into sending money to scammers in Northampton.

The woman received numerous phone calls on October 12 from people purporting to be from her bank.

They were described as being ’very convincing, having many of her personal details already, and they told her that she needed to send a package of money to an address in Far Cotton, Northampton.’

In a Facebook post detailing the incident, Northamptonshire police said: ’After the money was sent, the woman got suspicious and contacted her local police force.

’They in turn contacted Northamptonshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit who immediately launched an investigation and made fast-track enquiries to identify the suspects and protect the victim.

’The package [of money] was delivered to an address in Far Cotton and taken in by a woman. The next day it was collected by a man and a woman. All three have since been arrested with a second man also identified as a potential suspect arrested the day after.’

All four - two women aged 19 and 25, and two men aged 27 and 30 - have been released under investigation pending further enquiries.

Thankfully, the money was recovered and returned to the woman in question.

Detective Sergeant Simon Seed, from Northamptonshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said: ’I am immensely pleased that our fast-paced actions were able to recover the money scammed from this lady and get it returned to her.

’Fraudsters will look to tell any lie to their victims in order to get them to part with their money.

’If you do not personally know the person calling you, make checks to confirm who they are. If your bank appears to be calling you, end the call and ring them back on the number that you have on your bank card, or attend the branch.’

He added: ’I hope this case shows the seriousness with which we take crimes such as this and that Northamptonshire Police will do everything in its power to fight these scammers on behalf of the victims they target.’

Isle of Man Constabulary’s Gavin Callow said: ’Police and OCSIA (the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance) are really pleased with this great result.

’The new reporting procedure involving OCSIA and IoM Police allowed rapid action to take place and UK partners were quickly contacted by OCSIA/police staff with the results we have seen.

’We are also pleased that a recent leaflet delivered to all island homes and funded by the Isle of Man Bankers forum has raised awareness of staying safe online and details of reporting points.’

Banks will never ask you to take money out of your account to be collected. They will never ask you to send money to another account as part of an investigation, nor will they ask you to send physical cash to a third party address. If anyone on the phone tells you to tell a lie to an official in order to get hold of money, this is likely fraud.

You can report cybercrime via the police webpage www.iompolice.im or the new OCSIA website www.ocsia.im