00:00When 91-year-old Grace took a call claiming to be from her bank, she was initially sceptical.
00:09But within moments, the man on the end of the line had worked his way through her distrust.
00:13He gave my full name, he gave my address.
00:19Grace was told she was the last piece of a puzzle that would put a known scammer behind
00:23bars.
00:25She just needed to do one thing.
00:27He said I want you to buy four Apple gift cards.
00:33The caller told Grace a taxi was waiting for her outside her Perth home, and before she
00:38knew it, she was in the back seat.
00:40I walked out to the taxi, I got in it like a fool.
00:46Grace was driven to a shopping complex in the city's north, where an alert checkout
00:50operator stopped her purchase.
00:52All the while, the scammer was still on her phone, ready with further instructions.
00:57I felt like painting, to be honest with you.
01:02I felt so stupid.
01:04I felt gullible.
01:07The 91-year-old was spotted by neighbours and returned home to her worried family.
01:12Her story now a warning to others who may be targeted.
01:15They are absolute mongrels.
01:18There is no other word to describe taking advantage of a 91-year-old.
01:25And a reminder of how fast your money can be lost.
01:28The iTunes gift cards and those gift card scams kind of fell out of favour, but we're
01:34definitely seeing a resurgence of them this year.
01:38The incident is now under investigation by the Commonwealth Bank after it acted to ensure
01:43the security of Grace's accounts.
01:46How he knew my address, how he knew my phone number, how he knew my husband had passed,
01:55and my full name, my age, my birthday.
01:59Those details likely obtained through data harvesting.
02:03Consumer Protection has a simple message for the community.
02:06The only people that are going to call you to ask you to help you catch a scammer is
02:10a scammer.
02:11Almost two months on from her ordeal, Grace is still trying to process what happened to
02:15her.
02:16I'm sorry.
02:19And she wants to make sure it happens to nobody else.
02:22I won't let it beat me, but if I can help anybody else by what my story tells you, I
02:30hope you really listen.