TJ, I am not disputing that these scams do go on, that they are reprehensible and that they target the elderly and gullible, I am merely pointing out that the scammers' objective in obtaining your bank details is not to surreptitiously steal funds from your account without your knowing about it.

If your wife is aware of case histories where fraudulent deductions have been made from somebody's account where all the information the perpetrator had was the account no. and the sort code, I would be fascinated to hear about them, and exactly how the frauds were committed.