A second Central Otago man in his 90s was scammed out of thousands of dollars from his bank account the week before Christmas.

Alexandra Police Senior Constable Graham Perkins said in the latest incident, a 94-year-old from Clyde was convinced by a caller that he had bitcoin that needed to be deposited into his bank account.

The victim allowed him access to his bank accounts online and watched him withdraw $8,500 from two different accounts right before his eyes.

The message from Snr Const Perkins was “don’t entertain people if it seems too good to be true.’’

The same man had been scammed five years earlier as well and it appeared he had been targeted again, as the caller seemed to know his name, he said.

Just over a month ago, another 94-year-old Alexandra man was scammed out of $19,000 from an online fraudster.

Senior Constable Graham Perkins said the scammer convinced the man to download two applications onto his laptop and then took control of his computer and mobile phone.

After that he was able to access his bank accounts and transferred the money.

Snr Const Perkins said the man reported the incident to Alexandra police in person, and the BNZ fraud squad was contacted and his bank accounts frozen.

Police have also obtained access to his landline to trace the number the fraudster was calling from. Enquiries into both cases were ongoing, with investigations with both the BNZ and ANZ.

Have a story to share?

Contact [email protected]