SCAMMERS racked up more than £1,000 of fraudulent purchases in an internet spending spree after conning an Ilkley man into handing over his personal details through an elaborate Covid phone sting.

Christopher Short, 76, received a text message on Friday purporting to be from NHS Track and Trace and telling him he had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for Coronavirus.

Having recently attended a packed meeting and with an immunocompromised wife, Mr Short, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Ilkley Wharfedale, clicked on a link in the message to order a testing kit.

But the website it took him to was a convincing but fake NHS site and instructed Mr Short to fill in his personal details and pay for delivery of the non-existent kit with his credit card.

This gave the scammers enough to allow them to immediately start spending on his card at Argos and other stores, purchasing items worth more than £1,000.

But the crooks didn’t stop there — they then phoned Mr Short pretending to be from his credit card company and obtaining text codes from him to allow them to authorise the purchases — and even tried to get him to transfer all the money in his current and savings account to their own bank details.

Now Mr Short is warning others to beware of such scams. He says, “I know it probably makes me look stupid because I never, ever click on an unknown link. But a couple of days before I had been to an inside meeting for the first time during this Covid period.

“My wife has rheumatoid arthritis and the drugs she takes suppress her immune system, and for me to get Covid and pass it on to her would be catastrophic.

“My brain just didn’t click into warning mode because of this. There were so many triggers I should have recognised but I’m afraid that at 76 years old you just aren’t as sharp as you used to be.”

It was while talking to the scammer who was purporting to be from his credit card company that alarm bells began to ring and Mr Short said he was going to call his bank on the official number. The scammer hung up.

But by then the damage had been done and the thieves had ordered several items from Argos and another company. As an extra safety measure, credit card companies and banks these days operate two-factor authorisation, which means authorisation codes are sent to a person’s phone to make sure internet purchases are being made by the card-holder.

Because the scammer phoned Mr Short as they were making the purchases, they were able to have him hand over the text codes that were being sent to him, and therefore authorise the purchases themselves.

Mr Short is now in negotiations with Barclaycard, which operates his credit card, to try to claw back the money the scammers spent on his card.

Fraudsters pretending to be from the NHS have become a common problem during the Covid pandemic as many people did sign up for text alerts on the official NHS Track and Trace system.

Mr Short said, “This team, and it must be a team for the work that has gone into creating the NHS site and hacking into something to get the phone numbers, needs locking up.

“I’m sure the government said it was going to crack down on this type of fraud. People have lost tens of thousands of pounds, indeed their whole lifetime savings because of people like this.”

West Yorkshire Police has issued guidance about the prevalent scam, which says, “Genuine texts, calls or emails from the NHS service won't ask you for any personal details upfront. Calls and texts will only come from one verified NHS number: 0300 013 5000. If you think you have received a scam email/text/call then you can report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.”