Woman owes thousands after becoming victim of scam letters
January 17, 2008
A woman from the Derbyshire area has found herself in £30,000 worth of debt after falling victim to scam mail over a period of ten years. The elderly woman stated that she wanted to remain anonymous, and she has recently had to approach her son for help after realising just how much debt she was in.
Her son has stated that the family will now have to sell her home so that she can pay off the debt that she has accrued, and she will have to move in sheltered accommodation.
The £30,000 debt was accrued as a result of the elderly woman replying to letters that claimed she had won a cash prize, but that the prize could only be claimed after the recipient had sent off an administrative fee to cover costs. The woman was receiving up to 30 letters a day of this nature at during one period, according to her son, and was sending money off to all of them thinking that she would then receive her cash prizes.
Her son stated that she had turned to credit cards and other forms of finance to pay for these administrative costs. She also missed payments on bills and soon started receiving letters from the bank.
Her son said: “There was no indication as to how much debt she had got herself into. All she knew was that she was getting letters from the bank and she finally came to me and said: ‘Can you help me out. I went sorting through the house and found carrier bags full of these sorts of letters.”
He added that the situation was very embarrassing, and stated: “It’s a very difficult situation. Her house is on the market for £160,000 so we want to pay off the debt and buy her a sheltered home closer to us but the housing market is slow at the moment.”
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