A VULNERABLE grandmother has been conned out of her savings in a ‘despicable’ scam.

Carol Short, 50, was tricked into handing over security details to her laptop before her bank account was hacked in to.

And disabled Mrs Short, whose husband David died after becoming infected by MRSA in 2005, said she wants to warn others in a bid to stop it happening again.

She lost around £200 in the scam, which is now being investigated by police. Consumer Direct and trading standards officers are also looking into the issue.

Mrs Short said: “I didn’t know what they were doing at the time but they really upset me.

“I can’t believe they managed to get so much money. The people who do this sort of thing are heartless.”

She said that she first got a call last week from a company offering a laptop repair service.

Mrs Short, of Roe Lee, Blackburn, said: “They rang out of the blue said that my computer was running slowly and offered to help me get it up and running.

“I hadn’t contacted them but the laptop wasn’t working properly so I listened.

“Looking back I suppose everyone feels that their laptop works slowly but I thought someone must have given them my number. I feel devastated that I’ve been tricked.”

She said that the phone was passed to her brother Stephen who then was talked through a series of tasks on the laptop, which resulted in the scammer gaining remote access to the computer.

He was then able to access her bank details from the computer.

Trading standards officers are warning people not to fall victim to the new scam, which has been operating in other parts of the country.

A spokesman said: "The best advice is to put the phone down and certainly not give any personal details or allow a cold caller to have access to your computer. "