- Ann and James lied to their banks when the latter tried to block payments to scammers
- The couple transferred funds to a fake crypto platform after seeing an ad on social media
- They are left with £50,000 in non-repayable debt to banks
A UK couple, both retired nurses, fell victim to crypto scammers and lied to their banks, ultimately losing the lump sum of £86,000, the BBC reported.
Ann and James lied to their banks when the latter tried to block payments to scammers as they were “brainwashed” by the promise of their children getting a lot of money.
They also took out loans and handed over their life savings.
“The Spell”
According to Jim Winters, head of fraud at Nationwide, victims of this type of fraud were known as falling under “The Spell” of scammers. “The Spell” is a major challenge facing the financial industry.
What was the scam?
The couple transferred funds to a fake cryptocurrency platform after seeing an ad on social media, which political journalist Andrew Marr seemed to endorse.
They provided a phone number and a woman who introduced herself as Giselle Thomas got in touch with them. She claimed to be a financial adviser for a company called ISA Investments.
The West Yorkshire couple was encouraged to open a Revolut account to perform the transactions. , They were told their money would buy cryptocurrency.
They made a first payment of £100, which they transferred from their Virgin Money account into their Revolut one. A few days later, a fake app reported their investment had increased to £600.
They tried to make a second, bigger payment. Revolut and Virgin did not allow the transaction to go through, sending warnings that it could be a scam.
Criminals applied for loans in their name
Giselle convinced them it wasn’t a scam. They kept seeing their earnings rise. The fake app indicated that their investment of £5,000 had reached £23,000.
In the meantime, Giselle convinced them to download a remote access tool that enabled scammers to control their emails, devices, and security codes. The criminals made three loan applications for a total of £50,000 in James’s name.
One of the providers called him to ask what the money was for. James lied that it was for home improvements.
Withdrawal of profit not possible
The couple wanted to withdraw the money when the profit seemed to have reached £80,000. Giselle promised this was possible. Subsequently, she disappeared, leaving the couple with £50,000 in non-repayable debt.
