Two 'suspicious' men arrested in Portchester on suspicion of fraud and banned from Hampshire after elderly man paid £15,000 into three different bank accounts

Reports that the ‘suspicious’ men were sent to Hampshire Constabulary last Wednesday morning.

They were allegedly trying to get an elderly victim to send them a bank transfer.

The two men claimed to be from a building company, quoting the victim £36,000 to replace the guttering and to do work on his roof.

He promptly paid them thousands of pounds over three days across different bank accounts.

A statement from Fareham police said: ‘On Wednesday morning, police were called to reports of two suspicious men in an address in Portchester.

‘The victim paid £15,000 over the course of three days to different bank accounts and the men asked the victim to transfer the money using the “friends and family” option on his online banking to conceal the suspicious transactions.’

Officers responded to the call in minutes, finding two men in a van outside the address, with no equipment to carry out the jobs.

The statement added: ‘Officers found an invoice with a company name that didn't return any results on the internet, a suspicious looking phone number and an address that wasn't real on it.

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‘Two men were arrested under suspicion of fraud offences and unfortunately for them, they were not insured to drive their van, so we seized that too.

‘Since Wednesday, both men have been released on bail and have conditions not to enter Hampshire.

‘The incident remains under investigation and we are working with the victim’s bank to try and return the money to the victim.’

More information regarding doorstep fraud can be found here.