Martin Lewis has claimed that one of his elderly relatives was the victim of a scam that might have cost them thousands of pounds and may have resulted in identity fraud.
When he revealed what had happened, the 50-year-old Money Saving Expert was hosting his Wallet Wednesdays on Good Morning Britain with Susanna Reid.
Susanna, 52, had been encouraging viewers not to fall victim to online WhatsApp scams in which thieves pose as ‘children’ and urge their ‘parents’ to transfer them money.
Martin then shared: ‘The problem with this is scammers are very, very sophisticated.
‘A close relative of mine was scammed yesterday – it was quite upsetting.
‘They were called by Microsoft Security Essentials, which is not Microsoft Security Essentials, and it was scammers, saying their computer had been defrauded, and in four hours on the phone, thinking this person was helping them, gave all their details.
‘An elderly relative of mine, and the honest truth is there are many times you’ll be called up by people trying to help you with scams, that’s what the scammers do.
‘When I spoke to this person – I don’t want to name them – I spoke to this person later in the day, and as soon as they said Microsoft Security Essentials called me I knew it’s a scam, they don’t call.’
Martin added: ‘It took me minutes to persuade, because obviously, when it’s family they treat you in a different way, and at one point I had to say, “Look forget my relationship to you, this is what I do for my job, this is a scam.”‘
He went on to add that fortunately, three of the banks had halted it, and that one bank would return the money given out.
But, Martin’s relative is still at risk of being ID frauded. He urged: ‘You have to be sceptical. If anybody calls you out of the blue, that you’re not expecting, be sceptical about it.’
Martin has also spoken to the authorities about door-to-door cold-calling fraudsters.
‘They should look at banning that one as well because then I should be able to sit on this programme and tell you if anybody ever cold-calls you from an insurance company or a bank that you don’t have a relationship with, or anything like that, it is a scam, because it will be illegal,’ he added.
‘Because we need that clarity to protect people.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
Source My Celebrity Life.