AN ELDERLY woman was told she would be arrested in her own home unless she met demands for hundreds of pounds in yet another sick scam.

Irene Pollard has been targeted for a second time by fraudsters, who on this occasion claimed to be from HM Custom & Excise.

The brave 85-year-old previously spoke out after she was the unsuspecting victim of a scam to con her out of money for community alarm charges.

This time round she was called out of the blue and told to pay up for a 'mistake made by her employer 60 years ago'.

Disgusted Irene, who lost her husband a year ago, said: "It was a woman who called.

"She said she was from Customs & Excise and I owed £900.

"She said that my employer had made a mistake but I would be liable.

"I told her there must be a mistake but she said unfortunately we all have to pay tax."

Having had experience of cold call scams, Irene was not going to be fooled by the criminal on the other end of the line.

She said: "I told her I hadn't worked for 60 years and hung up.

"She then called me back and said if I don't pay then she would sent a representative to my house and I would be arrested.

"I gave her a piece of my mind - I blew my top and told her not to threaten me."

The Tele reported earlier this year that Irene had been targeted by scammers using a fake Inverclyde Council link in a bid to dupe her into paying a bogus charge for a community alarm.

Council bosses had to send out letters to all 2,700 users of the alert system to warn them to ignore the messages.

Phone scam criminals have been plaguing people in Inverclyde lately, with daily reports of illegal approaches being made to people, many of them elderly members of the community.

Irene added: "I can't believe I have been targeted twice.

"I want to raise awareness of this though.

"It worries me that they prey on someone more vulnerable and they might hand over their details.

"They try to frighten people.

"This needs to be stopped.

"I want to warn people to hang up and not give out any details."