Elderly Queensland man targeted by persistent scammer

Police on the Sunshine Coast are warning elderly residents to be wary after a man in his 80s was targeted by scammers.

Detectives say the man contacted police after he lost a large amount of money to a man purporting to be from a bank selling "Capital Protected Fixed Income Government Funds".

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The scammer claimed to be senior compliance manager at the bank and managed to con the elderly man into forking over most of his savings.

They say the scammer was persistent, contacting the resident several times and even providing what appeared to be genuine-looking documents with bank branding, the names of real bank employees, investment thresholds and even a FAQs sheet.

Police say the scammer promised unrealistically high returns and put pressure on the man to invest.

In a similar case another victim was contacted by a scammer offering to recover their lost money in return for a large sum of money.

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Can you pick the Black Friday scam text message?

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Police say these types of scams can be difficult to spot before it is too late and recommend speaking directly to the bank themselves if you are at all concerned anything dodgy is happening.

Even if everything seems legitimate, you should still contact the bank yourself if a large some of money is involved.

People should also make sure their computer system has up-to-date security and is running anti-virus software.