Woman lost £4,500 to 'convincing' scammers

A woman has said she feels "an absolute fool" after being scammed out of £4,500.

Kate, from Poulton in Lancashire, said she received a text message that said it was from her bank - and was told her account had been hacked.

During a three-hour call, she said there were things the caller said that "should have rung alarm bells", but that they "seemed delightful" and "were so convincing" that she passed on personal information.

Kate said: "I never thought it would happen to me and I just want people to know it can happen to anyone."

She told BBC Radio Lancashire the text message said: "We've put a hold on a transaction for an Air B&B for £980, can you confirm whether this is you?"

"It didn't ring any bells," she said, "and my first thought was to phone them and say no it wasn't me."

She used the number on the text and thought it seemed genuine as she "had to go through the system" of pressing the relevant numbers to be put through to speak to someone.

"They had me on the phone for three hours and they said, 'Right we can see what these people are doing, have you tried to by a Rolex recently?Have you tried to invest in crypto?' And I said, 'No it's not me'.

"I don't know why I believed it because it sounds farcical now, but they said, 'We need to transfer money from one bank into another bank account and then we can sort it and you'll get the money back'.

"It just seemed so real."

Kate said she was told because it was a "considerable amount" the fake bank employee said "they were "going to fast-track it" and "get you on to the Financial Conduct Authority and get them to call you back via WhatsApp".

"Now that should have rung alarm bells, but it didn't," she said.

The fraudsters then said they had her passport and as the picture they described didn't sound like Kate, it was "serious" as someone was "using a complete fake ID".

She added she sent on a picture of her passport photo, which she recognised was "the worst thing I could've done".

Roger Hussey, fraud safeguarding officer at Lancashire Police, said cases like this "absolutely make my blood boil".

He said when scammers get to speak to someone "they want to load you up with fear" but "your bank will never scare you, they will never tell you to move it to a safe account".

He said anyone worried about a call should call 159.

"It goes through to a call centre that can contact all banks," he said.

"It gets you through to the security team and they can freeze your account and direct you to help."

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