FRAUDSTERS nearly conned a couple out of cash by pretending they needed money to process a PPI windfall.

Susan and Michael Murphy, 65 and 77, of Canvey, were called four times on Tuesday afternoon from someone claiming to be from the Halifax bank.

The caller said the couple had been awarded a £2,390 payout on mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance for their 1973 mortgage, but needed to give the bank a £150 voucher to cover costs.

Fortunately, the couple’s granddaughter, Georgia Chambers, intercepted one of the calls and reported the matter to police.

Miss Chambers, 22, of Hullbridge, said: “It’s horrible anyone would do such a thing and it’s galling theywould call so many times to an elderly couple.

“It angered me they were able to get the information in the first place – they knew roughly their mortgage was from back in 1973.

I didn’t realise first of all, I just thought my granddad may have made a PPI claim without telling us.

“But the situation became obvious when they started mentioning vouchers and having to pay them.”

The couple were told to buy the voucher from a nearby convenience store.

After finishing the call, Miss Chambers contacted police who referred her to Action Fraud.

She said: “The caller gave us a number to ring, but when we rang, it was a dead line so Action Fraud told me to tell the caller, when they rang back, that they had been reported to the police.

“That’s exactly what I did when they called back and they hung up straight away.

“I guess my grandparents were lucky I was there to stop this happening to them.

“The elderly are very vulnerable to this kind of scam as they are trusting that they will get a big sum of money.”

A spokesman for Action Fraud said: “We received a call on Tuesday, and it will be assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau at the City of London Police.

“The victims will have an update about their report 28 days after it was made.”