Indian telephone scam costs an Australian lady her life's savings

The scammers contacted Perth-based 80-year-old Edna Sloan pretending to be from the Australian Tax Office. They told her that she would be eligible for grants worth tens of thousands of dollars if she sent them some money, an ABC report said today.

Her son, Dennis Sloan, said his mother lost her life savings of over 40,000 Australian dollars over a couple of months after she wired the money to India. "Mum was actually going to the bank and withdrawing cash from the bank and then taking it down to the central newsagency here in Bunbury and then sending it through Western Union," he said, adding that's why we won't get it back because it's untraceable.

Meanwhile, the Australian Tax Office have been trying to educate people on its website about types of scams that one can be trapped in. It asks people to be aware of cold calling and if the caller advices that they would receive the money as they have 'unclaimed taxes' and or they 'pay tax frequently'.

The website also refer to identify the scam through clues like if the call centre operatives refer to themselves as 'Harry' and request them to attach 99 Australian dollars and address the form to "Australian government - Veerendra Kumar, Bareilly India."