There’s no such thing as an easy dollar, so it’s not a surprise that some people try to cheat the system instead of earning an honest living. Movies and TV shows depicting fraud and deceit are always popular, and a big part of that is the chance to learn from the mistakes of others and protect ourselves against similar schemes. Family and lifestyle forum Mumsnet user UhOhhhhh was watching Love Rats, a documentary series about how criminals manipulate and con unsuspecting victims, pretending to be interested in them romantically, and decided to ask the community if they know anyone who’s been scammed. Turns out, yes, they have.

#1

My mum. In real life, rather than online. She just wouldn’t listen to me when I asked her why a 30 year old married man would be interested in a nearly 70 year old woman. In the end I had to forbid her from talking about him to me. Over £10,000 later (which she didn’t have, so was all on loans and credit cards) she had to sell her house to pay it off and ended her life in debt in a council bungalow (which she was damn lucky to get!)

Image credits: MysteriousUsername

#2

My 80 year old neighbour was scammed to the tune of around £30,000. He told me this in tears, it was his life savings, he’d wanted to leave it to his daughter. He’d been contacted about an investment scheme, and asked to invest £500. Within a few weeks his bank account had been credited with around £800. This convinced him it was genuine and he then invested £30k. Never heard from anyone again. Lost the lot. Police couldn’t help. I always wonder what would have happened if he’d just taken the £800 and stopped there. Would he have scammed the scammers?

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#3

I was scammed out of £800 by a fake tradesperson when I was a young adult. Not thousands but it was a lot of money to me and caused undue stress and upset.

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#4

A friend fell for the ‘Mum I lost my phone’ scam

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#5

Friend’s mother was in her seventies, hugely obese with a lot of medical conditions as a result and wheelchair bound and fell for a romance scam from an ‘American soldier’. She sent him tens of thousands and died shortly after it was discovered. Poor lady.

another friend had a call from ‘her bank’ saying she had been hacked and her m savings were in the process of being stolen. She gave the caller remote control of her online banking and they stole every penny.

Image credits: Flamez

#6

A friend’s elderly MIL. Scammers called her and pretended to be her bank. She was savvy enough to say she needed to call her bank’s number to be sure it was her bank, but they stayed on the line and kept up the pretence. She lost £30k.

Image credits: TheMaenads

#7

I’ve lost money trying to get a good deal by buying a voucher to then get the item, but it was out of stock so money voucher wasn’t able to be redeemed. Won’t ever do that again.

Also I tried to rent a flat, private landlord that seemed legit initially when showing me around Then I smelled a rat so did some checks and cancelled the cheque. It was a scam.

I’ve seen a few fairly convincing email phishing scams too. Not actually fallen for them though.

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#8

my mum sold something very expensive online and the person paid with fake notes, not sure how she didn’t notice they were very obviously fake.

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#9

A lady I worked with was scammed out of a lot of money by a man she met online, we all warned her but she was adamant he was genuine no matter what we said

Image credits: FortyFacedFu

#10

I know a very intelligent man who was scammed out of A LOT of money in a crypto scam. It’s not just lonely old women.

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#11

Older, unwell in-law lost a few thousand to a phone scammer purporting to be her son, saying they were in financial trouble.
We got the money back for her, from her bank. The whole thing was devastating for her.

Image credits: MargaritaPracticallyCan

#12

My SIL fell for someone on line and borrowed 7k to send to him

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#13

Two friends of mine were scammed:

– one got a call from someone pretending to be his bank telling him he needed to move money as his account was no longer safe. Luckily his bank refunded him the full amount.
– same friend met someone online who claimed they had financial issues, he’d send him money most days to pay for his food or some other smallish expense. It only stopped when the app he used changed the rules and he could no longer send money in the same way. He asked me to send him the money saying he’d pay me back – I refused. By the time he got to this stage a couple of grand had been sent over. Funnily enough when he couldn’t send money anymore he stopped hearing from this guy as much.
– the other friend had some guy come onto him at a bar, told him he couldn’t go back with him that night, but did want to see him again. Asked if he could put his number into my friends phone- he’d actually gone onto his banking app and sent a load of money to himself.

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#14

Yes. Friends husband had a call from his bank. They old him they needed to transfer their entire business account balance due to a fraudulent transaction , only it wasn’t the bank of course. It was a lot of money and he did eventually get it all back as the bank admitted fault
I think.

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#15

I met someone who fell for the American Soldier romance scam. She was quite young and very lonely. I can’t see how she didn’t know it was a scam, I suspect she enjoyed the attention even though she knew it wasn’t genuine. She couldn’t afford the money she sent.

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#16

Guy at work nearly fell for a romance scam.
His Russian girlfriend text to say she had got ‘stuck in customs’ on the day she (allegedly) flew out to meet him & needed 2k to be released.

Thankfully he asked our boss to lend him the cash, so he was able to intervene & point out it was obviously a scam and no Russian beauty was actually waiting for him at Birmingham International.

Image credits: WeeWigglet

#17

I find it astonishing how naive some people are. For example, the woman who appeared on This Morning to warn others of romance scams after she was duped out of £££ by “Gerard Butler”.

My mum is around her age and if she announced to me/other family members that she was in a relationship with “Gerard Butter” but had never actually met or indeed spoken to him we’d set her straight pretty quickly!

Image credits: WorldKeepsSpinningRound

#18

I did, many years ago by a driving instructor – only about £250,but it was a lot to me then.
I didn’t get it back, but got huge satisfaction from reporting him for VAT and tax evasion – saw it reported in the local press about a year later.

Image credits: ThinWomansBrain

#19

Many of my friends along with members of my family were scammed out of £400-£1000 each by a so called friends DH.

Turned out they weren’t the only ones.

Police were involved and they both left the country.

So called friend came back recently when he was arrested in the country they moved to for you guessed it…… fraud!

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#20

My MIL fell for an email from someone who she believed was her friend, asking her to buy supermarket vouchers on her behalf and sending the scammer the voucher numbers.. She did it a couple of times before her daughter caught her doing it and did some digging. She lost about £300

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#21

I’ve been scammed. I.wont say how as it’ll be outing, but not a romance scam or sending money abroad or anything like that

I was scammed for 15k, and the knock on impact meant I lost quite a bit more money than that.

It made me feel sick, ashamed, sad, desperate and overwhelmed.

I just don’t know how people live with themselves when they commit these scams.

Image credits: BaklavaRocks

#22

Not exactly but I went to school with someone who was in the local papers for being part of a gang that conned pensioners out of their life savings through some kind of call centre scam.

I can’t imagine anyone I know would fall for a romance scam.

Image credits: Probioaretheone

#23

Oh gosh these stories are so sad. People’s lives ruined after losing money through desperation to have their savings grow or through loneliness and want of romance/companionship.

The “Mum I lost my phone/need emergent money quickly” ones are quite scary though. I can see a lot of even astute and savvy parents falling for that one.

It’s also scary how convincing the Parcel scam ones that get you to put in your address via a link to arrange delivery/redelivery are becoming considering loads of people have parcels delivered through couriers each day and if you’re expecting one, it won’t seem suspicious to a lot of people, especially older people who may not order parcels as much and think it’s normal protocol.

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#24

Yep, my dad, just under £14k. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone to deal with

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#25

My DP was scammed out of £50k, it’s a long boring story but l said at the time please stop, it was a friend of friend so she knew the 1st person,..turns our loads of people got scammed..l kept saying you throwing good money after bad. Think can you lend me £5k will pay it back in a week with interest, just waiting for paperwork.
These people were in another country obviously no one got any money back.

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#26

I was accused of trying to scam a shop. On holidays at a supermarket checkout. I had an expensive bottle of alcohol that had gone through and someone walked off with it. I didn’t see anyone take it but when I went to start bagging my shop I realised it wasn’t there. I tried to explain that the person before me must have taken it, and I needed to get another. Got told no, they had seen this happen before and I had to pay for it. I got really stressed until I realised I could just leave (I hadn’t payed yet) and do my shopping somewhere else.

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#27

My mum nearly transferred money to a scammer, thankfully the teller at the bank quizzed her about the transaction (circa £9500). The scam was a call from “Head Office” stating her bank branch was unreliable and committing fraud so she was to transfer the money to another account!
Since this is unusual for my mum the teller asked her to speak to the manager and they uncovered the scam. My mum was warned not tell the bank or her children as this would cause issues. Luckily my Mum can’t lie for toffee hence the manager preventing the transfer.

Image credits: ItIsMyName

#28

I work for a retailer that sells vouchers. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have refused to sell them to an elderly person who was being threatened by the likes of “Jeff Bezos” or “Elon Musk” to do as they say. Had older ladies come in claiming they were speaking with their childhood pop star crush. Men who are being scammed by pretty women via instagram. Even young employees who fall for their ‘boss asking them to buy thousands in vouchers for an employee giveaway’. Several times a day.

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#29

Neighbour’s dad sent loads of money to an animal charity. A real charity but they kept sending letters begging for more cash and he donated about 50000 pounds in the end, his savings. Not a scam but not right in my book.

My best friend was scammed out of 10000 Euros, i.e. first three months’ rent, for a flat that didn’t exist. They were very clever and she was very desperate as flats are so hard to find here.

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#30

My dad was nearly scammed from someone pretending to be from talk talk. They were very insistent he transferred them some money via western union that day. He was going along with it and asked his neighbour to give him a lift to the post office , and the neighbour realised it was a scam.
Another friend was scammed out of 10k which was all their savings, I can’t remember exactly how, it was some scheme were they were persuaded to invest but I can’t recall how they were contacted

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#31

I know one person (self-employed professional) who was scammed by her secretary out of her practice account. It went to court. The money was all spent so no hope getting it back.

And another, a consultant doctor, who was scammed by his cleaning lady. He had recently separated acrimoniously and assumed it was his ex wife eking revenge via the joint savings. The cleaning lady got a new conservatory, and bought her son a motorbike.

Both in the tens of thousands.

#32

A middle aged divorced man I know invested about £60k in a get rich quick scheme on the advise of a v attractive and much younger woman he had met in a bar and to whom he became engaged after meeting just once and lots of loving texts. Funnily enough he never saw woman or money again. What goes through these men’s minds? It beggars belief.

My mum was contacted on her landline by scammers saying they were from Amazon or something of the sort and trying to prevent fraud and asked for bank details etc. My mum fell for it and would’ve handed said bank details over but she was blind and couldn’t read the security number on her card. Luckily she called me to ask what to do and I told her to put the phone down and nothing was taken. My mum was a very sharp no nonsense woman back in the day but her age and disabilities had made her vulnerable. Fucking cunts preying on old people.

#33

My lovely, previously switched on 90 year old Dad. Classic con. Roofer knocked at door said working in street noticed problem with his roof persuaded him to drive to bank to get cash to pay for work .No work done. £800 Never seen again.Police were very supportive but nothing could be done. I was SO SO angry that my Dad had become a target

#34

My teenage son with his first bank card. They cloned his card, not once, not twice, not three times, you gussed it four times in as many months. In fact the last card hadn’t even been delivered and it was used hundreds of miles away. The bank refunded all the monies. I suspect it was someone from the bank

#35

Me. I fell for a romance scam off Guardian Soulmates, there’s a thread about it on here somewhere. Not huge amounts thank goodness but it was insanely stupid.

And an older relative. Followed up the classic Nigerian Prince email and was in the clutches of an increasing network of scum from all over the world until his death, for about ten years I think. He had terrible credit scores (went bankrupt in his 50s, state pension only, no assets) and we couldn’t see why they kept calling him, and then we found he was persuading acquaintances and even his partner to hand over vast sums which he sent to the scammers. He was bloody lucky he didn’t end up in jail.

#36

Yes, a relative lost over 6 figures in a crypto scam. They had made a decent living trading until that point but I few personal stressors means they took their eye off the ball and it went…it was a quite a big scam that span numerous countries. They were contacted by the FBI but I this was a couple of years ago and so assume they never found the culprits.

#37

My intelligent dad was sending lots of money to his ‘girlfriend’ in Russia, I saw a photo of her – she was stunning, my dad isn’t ! He sent her money for a holiday and flew over to Russia for a month to see her but she got Covid so couldn’t meet him and eventually he was told she had died. It was horrific, he was traumatised as his previous (very real) partner had died very young only 2 years previously. He still cannot see he was scammed and genuinely believes she died.

#38

Some friends of mine fell for one that was common about ten years ago when someone from ‘your bank’ would ring up with a spiel about fraudulent activity, ask for lots of info including your pin, and would then send round a motorbike courier to collect your bank card so it could not be used fraudulently anymore… Lots of urgency and pressure so they didn’t have time to think until after the motorbike roared away; by the time they called their actual bank about half an hour later, hundreds of pounds had been taken from their account.

#39

A neighbour of mine lost £45k by someone pretending to be the fraud squad from her bank. She still refuses to believe the “nice man” probably isn’t even called Luke

#40

My mum, she has dementia and a few years ago a ‘tradesman’ called at the door. He quoted work and from what she said he also cased the joint, asking how the back door locked etc. She handed him a deposit of £3k in cash…even if she told us there is no reasoning with her.

#41

When we moved house we kept getting letters from the solicitor warning we were at high risk of fraud due to the amounts being transferred. Basically they said that hackers can have hacked your email account but don’t do anything yet, just watch for an opportunity involving large sums. They then intercept say an email with an invoice attachment, change the payment details on the invoice to their own then let the email land in your inbox and you end up paying the scammers. They also wait for the day you’re exchanging and send an email pretending to be from the solicitor saying you need to pay this much today.
if you ever get an email saying someone’s bank details have changed, always ring them and speak to them in person to confirm.

#42

Yes, me twice this year. First one was one of these Joules sale websites where you pay and nothing ever turns up.
Second one was a business acquaintance of DH who ran an investment business. We gave him some of our money to invest, turns out he’s just a brilliant conman and currently being investigated by the police for multimillion pound fraud.

#43

My husband did recently, thankfully they didn’t get any money, but he’d been talking to actual paypal on Facebook during a time of crazy amount of stress recently, accidentally clicked someone else and carrier on the conversation and gave his bank details, as soon as he did he said outloud why did I do that and I went through the conversation, we got onto the bank straight away and cancelled that card etc, he had been saving up money to pay for the things causing us stress so it could have been a lot lot worse.

#44

I know a few people locally who were caught out by a parking scam.
The scammers put fake QR codes on the parking meters in the local council car parks and took the parking charges.
Each individual “only” lost the parking fee (and the hassle of dealing with a council parking fine, the council waived these on appeal), so a small amount compared to others, but still a hassle. A warning ended up in the local newspaper.

#45

I got scammed out of a grand. The scammers had rung pretending to be my bank. The number they rang me with was my bank’s number so I trusted it. I had just made a large purchase online and assumed they were checking it was genuine.
After i had realised they were scammers and i had hung up on them I rang my bank’s number. Except I hadn’t, I rang the scammers. They told me I couldn’t lock down my account and order a new card until 8am the following morning! They proceeded to attempt to make many many online purchases, which thankfully my bank automatically twigged and froze my card.
DH rang my bank from his phone and I did get my money back eventually, but it very stressful.

#46

My husband was scammed out of £1500 when a tradesman’s email was hacked so he was given false bank details to make the payment for some work we had done. He was replying to the same email chain the tradesman had used when discussing dates for the work so there were no red flags at all. He’s a pretty cynical lawyer so not easily scammed.

A friend’s mum with dementia gave away about £80k to scammers sending her various investment and charity scams. My friend told her they were scams. He even got a police officer friend to come round and tell her, but she wouldn’t stop giving money to these people. Eventually my friend moved in with her as her carer and was able to intercept the begging letters in the post and put a stop to it. These people are scum.

#47

a female relative, widowed, desperately lonely and vulnerable, got involved with romance scam.

#48

Unsure if this falls under scam but after my DGF died my DGM reinvested a lot of their investments with the same financial advisor they had always used. When going back to him she found he had done a flit a while previously and everything of hers was gone. She was too embarrassed to mention it to anyone as she felt she had let my DGF down so did not chase anything up and just lost her money. Was late 90s and around £20,000. Luckily she could afford to lose it but the guilt she felt was horrendous.

#49

DH £800 flight ticket with a fake travel agent.

#50

Oh I remember another one.
me, I was buying an Apple Watch online (not from Apple) and the guy asked me to do a Lydia payment. They emptied my pitiful bank account. I got the money back from my bank.
FYI I was in the UK and Lydia payments are popular in France.

#51

My grandfather (in his late 70s/ 80s at the time) started “going out” with a much younger woman (30s) he met through his church. He gave her very large amounts of money, to pay for her studies, trips back to Poland to visit her family. He even ended up paying the rent on an apartment in so she could live there. They were meant to be engaged, he bought her a ring and everything and she was supposedly getting the apartment ready (had to be just right and she kept asking for money to furnish/ decorate it) so he could live there with her. It dragged out, his health took a turn for the worse and eventually I think he started to get worried about it and suspicious. It all came out. My uncle was furious. He and his wife flew over and went to the apartment to confront the woman and everything. It turned out that she had been living in the apartment with her boyfriend. There was no way of getting any of the money back of course. All in all, it was a really shocking amount. They consulted a solicitor but as he said, the money had been given willingly etc. The woman and her bf disappeared then anyway, never to be seen or heard from since. My grandfather died not too long after.

#52

Just remembered me and DH!

Many years ago when he was self employed he leased his work van. At the end of the 4 year lease he had the option to give the van back or buy it.

When he contacted them the company said they had been taken over by a large well known bank who were closing the commercial vehicle leasing part of the business so didn’t want the vans back, quoted him a good price to buy it.

We sent them a cheque, v5 arrived in DH name, all good.

Until 3 months later a bailiff turned up at our house to repossess the van for non-payment!!!!

It turned out someone had cashed our cheque, we suspected a disgruntled employee (they were all losing their jobs as a result of the takeover).

Luckily our bank sorted it and he got to keep the van!!!

#53

My mum scammed my grandmother out of thousands. It went to civil court, one of the many reasons I am no contact with her

#54

A friend’s mother was taken in by a scammer who represented himself as a Master Sergeant in the US Army, serving in the Middle East. She tried to convince her mom that it was a scam, and that a real army sergeant would not be constantly skint unless he had serious vices he was paying for.

She turned to me for help because I served in the US Army and have known them both for years. I’m an American. It took several phone calls and emails, but I was able to show her how much money a noncommissioned officer with that rating would make on deployment (quite a lot of money) and convince her that he would not have to pay for medical care, permission to take leave and all sorts of other expenses he was asking her to pay for. She blocked him, but at that point she was out about $10k.

#55

No but when I needed to make a 10kish payment to someone the bank made me call them and absolutely grilled for about 20 minutes me before they would release the money. It was a pain as it was a genuine transaction but I’m glad they take the time to try to stop these things (although it is to protect themselves mainly)

#56

My Mum was once – she called me in a panic saying that £450 worth of Nike trainers had been bought with her card and the bank couldn’t tell her if or when they could get the money back to her.

Thankfully she did manage to get it back through the bank but as far as I’m aware, whoever did it never got caught.

#57

An elderly neighbour was scammed out of over £100k – ‘tax payments’ for a ‘lottery win’ – a lottery she hadn’t even entered. She was just incredibly naive. We only found out about it when it had been going on for some time, she simply refused to believe that these were vile criminals stealing her money. They were all so nice on the phone!

Her children eventually out a stop to it by blocking unknown callers – it was all done over the phone. I read soon afterwards about ‘Suckers’ Lists’ that are compiled and sold on, and I wouldn’t mind betting she was picked because of her addiction to those Wordsearch ‘competitions’, where you conveniently phone in your every last detail at ££ per minute.

#58

In DH’s previous job the CEO was scammed out of a massive amount of money, fake phone call from the supposed ead of Accounts or whoever. She lost her job because of it.

Transferred around £150k I think

#59

My BIL’s mum was scammed out of $5000 by someone pretending to be from a telecommunications company. She’s normally pretty savvy, but she had just had her internet connection upgraded which made her think it was legitimate, so the timing was perfect from the scammers’ point of view.

A friend’s step-father left his wife (friend’s mum) for some Facebook romance scammer.

#60

I was scammed out of an item I had paid 500 for.
It was gone; the business closed and building empty when I went to collect it a week after purchase.

#61

I know someone who lost £5k booking a fake holiday villa online. Don’t know if they got anything back.
This was someone with a fairly senior IT role, which goes to show its not just the technophobe grannies and grandpas that can fall victim.

#62

I got a ‘mum I lost my phone’ text, and was so lucky that ds and I happen to use an unusual sign-off to our texts, so i knew it wasn’t him. Wasn’t deliberate to set it up but it saved me!

#63

My Dad lost nearly £100k, not even all his money – he borrowed from banks and family. It took a long time for us to find out and it was very hard to convince him he was being scammed.

#64

My brother’s FIL fell for the one where his “son” texted saying he’d lost his phone.

#65

Woman I used to work with got scammed by an online Indian fake romance scam. To the tune of 10’s of thousands of ££. Took out loans etc to send to a man she’d never met. She only found out cause police told her.

#66

I fell for a Joules closing down sale and happily put £160 worth of bits in my basket , checked out and waited patiently

Week later whilst looking to see if I could track the delivery I saw the email confirmation was something like ” joules.janesmith@hotmail.com” I realised I’d been fooled , when I went into the bank to ask if I should order a new card just in case , they opened a dispute , new card on phone immediately and refunded within 24 hrs , I was really impressed and much more vigilant since .

I also have a work colleague who took 4 years and over £30,000 getting rid of her very young Tunisian husband . That’s a whole other story.

#67

My grandad got a text a couple of years ago saying he needed to log on to the NHS app and pay for his certificate to prove he had been vaccinated against covid for 99p..
He logged on and paid the 99p and had his bank cleared out at the same time.

#68

A friend got conned out of thousands buying into crypto. He’d been told his return would double so despite my husband telling him it was clear bs, he put in £2500, then when that wasn’t enough secretly put in another £10,000.

Him and his wife also fell for the sales pitch with the foam loft insulation (bad emotion it’s own) where they were told by a guy that randomly showed up he had one final discount he could give out and he still had other houses to go to. She was telling me about it gleefully and it took a bit of convincing to make them believe they weren’t getting a deal. We made them cancel it.

some people are just susceptible to believe people I guess.

#69

Yes we did sadly by a landscaper. He was advertising his services on Facebook (10 years ago now). He gave us a quote then said he needed £2k upfront for materials. He did some work ordered a couple of fence panels. Then left the job after about 2 days never to be seen. We were devastated as we’d just had building work done and the garden was a mess.

I saw on Facebook later he was also pretending to be a teacher/or tutor type of person.

#70

A good (elderly) friend who’s husband had just died got caught in a property related one and she didn’t even do anything wrong!

The house was listed to sell, someone took the pictures from right-move and created a gumtree ad to rent the house out. It was mid covid so I guess tours were less common, but a whole family turned up with a moving van from the other side of the country, thinking they were perfectly legally renting the house and had already paid thousands in advance rent/deposit etc. Obviously the police were called and my friend was hauled over the coals as it was assumed she was part of the scam initially.

#71

My colleague was very nearly caught by a scam – she did the account books for a friend. ‘HMRC’ phoned to tell her that £3k was owing for VAT by the friend, it needed to be paid right now or else.

She panicked and was rushing round trying to sort the payment until another colleague said ‘that sounds like a scam’.

My colleague was nobody’s fool but anyone can fall for a scam if it catches your Achilles heel.

#72

Someone I know fell for the COL payments text scam.
Someone else lost £150K to the email that sell you shares in whisky.
A couple people feel for some other scam and lost a couple thousand and someone else had the ‘bank’ call, they tried to call the bank to confirm but the scammers stayed connected. They lost £5k.
No one got the money back and they are all people that aren’t vulnerable and that I would never have believed would have fallen for this.

#73

Yes, a female relative got tricked by a scammer into giving access/control of her computer. They got into her bank account and took money. But it suddenly clicked that this wasn’t right mid call and contacted her bank on a different phone. Thankfully stopped and she got the smaller amount she lost back.

But she felt so stupid and ashamed! It really knocked her confidence for a while. I think they purposely rush you and make you panic on those sorts of calls.

I nearly fell for one of those vitamin/weight loss pills scams that charge you ridiculously prices after you pay a small amount for postage. It is all in the small print but how many people just tick the box to say they read it and then don’t? I entered some details and then thought it was a bit dodgy so didn’t submit it, thank goodness!

#74

I was almost caught recently by a PayPal scam. I had an email saying that someone had set up a suspected false payment to Boots, and asked me to call them

I logged into my PayPal account and there was the payment exactly as on the email.

I navigated to the fraud section and the phone number on their website was the same as on the letter, so I was comfortable in calling.

The person on the phone mumbled a bit, so I asked if it was PayPal and he said yes.

The conversation just didn’t feel right, so I just hung up the phone, and changed my password.

I consider myself quite savvy at spotting scams, but as I hadn’t clicked any links in the email, and the phone number matched that on their website made me believe it.

Regarding the “mum, I’ve lost my phone” one, we have a family password which would be requested if any of us were in any kind of trouble.

My son received one of those. He’s definitely not a mum

#75

Yes, a very good friend of mine. Very educated and smart woman. Someone conned all her savings (150k out of her). She never told me or anyone that this was happening. If it can happen to someone like her (head usually firmly screwed on) it can happen to anyone. she only let her parents know when she ran out of money (to ask for more money) and that was the beginning of the end. It’s hair raising to think about it.

#76

I’ve had several fraudulent transactions on my credit card account, which my bank have flagged, and contacted me then cancelled. I got all my money back, and have nothing but praise for my bank.

I’ve very nearly called for a fake “bank call”, but realised before I gave away too much info.

DM has been scammed out of £300 on her mobile bill, which EE have consistently refused to believe was not to do with her.

Friend’s mum was scammed out of £14K. Well, actually nearer £40k, but a lot was retrieved. A very elaborate and unrealistic plan, that, at one point had her withdrawing £1000s of cash and driving it to a “safe holding depot”.

#77

Some people are just scummy.

Older friend with degenerative condition was targeted during lockdown when tensions with her adult son had developed. It involved her buying a a ‘put together package’ to take a journey across Europe to ultimately end her life and “set her son free from responsibilities towards her.” Theoretically leaving son with a luxury camper, any money left over, and a huge problem of hoarded possessions in storage, resolved for him, by a third party. She thought she was doing the right thing by everyone.

She had difficulties managing credit cards and was already having difficulties with her bank account being in her old married name that she’d stopped using. She was being warned if the long term manager who’d known her when she was married, left, she could have her money frozen or confiscated.
Then they started questioning her about withdrawing money. Probably well intentioned, but she felt the relationship as a customer had changed to one of them trying to control her finances. Then they refused to let her pay in £120 of old pound coins she’d collected in bottles, as she couldn’t prove their origin. She was told she could instead pay them in a few at a time, saying she’d just found each batch. Put together it totally shook her trust in the bank.

In 2021 she closed her account taking £35,000 out in cash, telling the bank part truth only as to what for.

Long story short, in the process of trying to help her, I then inadvertently became responsible for the money being mislaid within a storage unit, somewhere!

I’ve been helping search for it, and we recently found it. Untouched in paper £50 pound notes with original date stamped bands and sealed bank bags, exactly as the bank handed it to her.
All she’s told her old bank is she didn’t carry out her original plans, which is true, but they’ve refused to reopen an account, or exchange for plastic notes, claiming money laundering rules prevent it.
She can show the money’s origins and that tax has been paid, but they still refused. They’ve made her feel she’s under suspicion of wrong doing, when actually she’s just very embarrassed, ashamed and feeling guilty to her son and doesn’t want him to find out what she was going to do with “his inheritance.”
She’s asked another bank and they’ve said no too.

I’m now trying to convince her to let me take her to the Bank of England with it and all paperwork and tell them everything, and ask for it to be put in her son’s account as she wants him to have it, but she’s had it put into her head that they might confiscate the money. (I don’t know if she might be right.)

Surprise surprise, the other ‘friend’ still has the luxury camper they’ve ‘held onto for her’ and wants to help her…

#78

I was scammed out of 2k for a rental deposit. The estate agents email had been hacked so the emails were coming from a genuine email address, we’d seen the house, they even send a contract when I questioned sending the deposit. But turned out to be a scam. Some absolute scumbags about

#79

It was not a relative directly, but their financial adviser! Relative’s email was hacked into, and a fake email sent to their FA to say they were going away and would be completely out of email/phone contact for a while, but meanwhile he was to transfer money (a lot!) to a completely new account.

Unbelievably, the FA did it!
We checked with the bloke who manages our funds, and he said there would be at least 6 separate checks before money was ever transferred to a new a/c.
IIRC the relative did eventually get his money back, probably via the FA’s insurance.

Might add that a couple of years ago, a financial journalist who writes for the Sunday Times admitted in the paper that even she’d been caught. These evil bastards are so cunning now, we all need to be super-vigilant.

#80

Friend lost £20k to an investment scam, recommended to him by his Financial adviser (who lost his wife’s pension fund to the scam)..This was about 15 years ago now, when such things were generally very crude – this one was not crude, it was very convincing, with funds kept in a segregated account in a high street bank. After a year, the “fund” had grown by a decent amount (not a “too good to be true” amount) so he was persuaded to “leave it in ” another year.

Once it became obvious that it was a scam, and that the bank statements were forgeries, friend joined a joint action against the bank that was involved, and got all his funds back (though no interest). Fraudster was in due course jailed for a long period.

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