AN ELDERLY Pedmore woman was conned out of tens of thousands of pounds after being caught up in postal lottery scams.

Vicki Westwood, 81, passed away on New Year’s Eve after paying out almost £100,000 to con artists over a six year period.

Her son, Russell Eaton, who claims his mum was “brainwashed” into taking part in the schemes, first discovered she had shelled out more than £1,000 a month when he went to close her bank accounts after she died.

He said: “I went to the bank to close her accounts and found she was overdrawn a thousand pounds in one and owed the same in another.

“All her life savings and quite a large trust fund that was set up for her by her late husband, my stepfather, had gone.

“I went to her house to try and find documents which were needed, like her birth certificate, but I came across hundreds of thousands of letters from postal lottery scams.

“They all had ‘instant win’ written on them and ‘if you send us this amount you are guaranteed to win thousands’.

“She also had hundreds of letters from clairvoyants which all had similar pagan-looking symbols on them, like she was part of some kind of cult.

“Those letters were really personal, it was like they were grooming her and somehow managed to get into her head.

“The letters had messages on telling her not to speak about anything with her family or friends because they would be jealous if they found out how much money she would make.

“I have been in the house since she died and answered phone calls from the ‘parasites’ asking to speak to her. In the last week alone she has been sent more than 100 letters from them.”

Russell also found recorded lists of each payment his mum had made as part of the scams.

Next to each amount, between £20 and £50 a time, Vicki had written how many days it would be before she was guaranteed to win.

Russell said his mum was not a vulnerable woman and still had a sane frame of mind, so he was shocked to discover she had been conned.

He said: “When I found out I felt absolutely numb. I was so shocked by what I found I was lost for words. I just didn’t know how this could have happened.

“I also felt guilty, like I could have done more. I spoke to her on the phone two or three times a week and went to visit her every week, but never knew about it. She kept it such a secret and very well hidden.

“I wish I had been nosier, gone into rooms I never went in and looked in draws I never looked in, as that is where she would keep the letters.”

Russell and his wife Lisa now hope to raise awareness of the scam dangers, known as mass marketing fraud (MMF).

The pair have also spoken to members of the Think Jessica campaign which aims to protect elderly and vulnerable people from scams which come through the postal system and by telephone.

Russell said: “It’s such a common thing which is happening. About £3.5 billion a year is being sent out of the country as part of these schemes.

“We want to get the message out to post offices, doctors’ surgeries, hospitals and services which help elderly people to not respond or believe in them.

“There’s no point in Think Jessica’s information just being spread around the internet as elderly people won’t see it, it needs to be in places where they will find out about it.

“Although there’s nothing we can do about our situation, we can still help the thousands of others across the country who could be caught up in these scams.”

Vicki’s case is currently being investigated by the National Fraud Investigation Bureau after Russell reported it to West Midlands Police.

For more information on postal lottery scams and the Think Jessica campaign visit www.thinkjessica.com