A WOMAN from Oxenholme was conned out of more than £7,000 after falling victim to a text scammer impersonating her son.

The 63-year-old woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, was persuaded to transfer £7,660.80 in five separate online transactions by the scammer.

It was only when she tried to make a sixth that her bank Santander blocked the payment and contacted her.

She told her bank that it was not a scam and that it was her son. She then rang his 'old' phone number and he answered.

"That was when it all became clear", she said.

"I felt so sick and stupid.

"It was about two weeks ago – the first message said 'Hi Mum, Save my new number X'

"I have three children, so I replied ‘Which child is this, (name)?'

"It went from there, and I was chatting to someone I thought way my son – he then said he was having another issue, and I asked if it was anything I could help with.

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"He said he had an invoice to pay, and if he didn't pay it, he was going to be charged extra.

"Then he'd bought things on 'buy now pay later schemes' that he had to pay.

"They gave me bank details. They were different personal bank account with foreign names but I'd paid them as I genuinely thought it was him.

"I knew he'd had his bathroom done last year so it all seemed to click.

"I showed my daughter the messages afterwards, and she said that (name) doesn’t talk like that."

Her bank have now put all of the money back into her account and the case was lodged with Action Fraud, the national fraud-reporting centre.

She said: "I was lucky as it was a lot of money for me and I've got it back.

"I just want other people to be aware that this is a scam that is going around, particularly for those that aren't IT-literate or see warnings on social media.

"I had totally believed it was him. I was texting things like: 'If you can't pay it back all at once, don't worry, don't leave yourself short' so obviously they realised I was a soft touch didn’t they."

If you think you have been a victim of fraud contact www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 03001232040.