AMY Hart has opened up about the terrifying moment she realised she’d been scammed for £5,000.
The 31-year-old confessed she felt “so alone” after criminals posing as her bank stole the large sum of money.
Love Island star Amy urged anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation to not feel embarrassed and insists it’s easy to fall victim to the sophisticated con artists.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun about the shock scam in 2022, she said: “My phone rang, I didn’t recognise the number so I didn’t answer it. I went onto Google to search for the number and it came back as my bank’s fraud team.
“They phoned back again, so that time I answered it.
“They knew lots of information about me and they said, ‘There’s been some dodgy activity on your account’ then your heart rate goes up.
“You’re sweaty, you’re worried, you’re panicking, and you just want to sort it out. They use pressure tactics.”
Amy – who shares son Stanley, one, with husband Sam Rason – explained that the fraudster then showed her two transactions – one she did make and one she didn’t.
Because Amy recognised one of the payments she was encouraged to press ‘yes’ on a pop up on her phone.
She said: “As soon as I clicked ‘yes’ they had access and managed to get £5,000 from me.
“When you’re in the moment on the phone it feels so fast paced. It feels so noisy. It feels. You’re hot, you’re sweaty and your heart rate’s going.
“And then as soon as you come off the phone, you realise you’ve been scammed and it’s like a deathly silence – you just feel so stupid, so alone and so humiliated.”
Luckily, after contacting her back and having them investigate, Amy was able to get her money back.
She said: “I though, ‘that’s it, they’ve got my details and they’re just going to wipe my account’.
“I’ve worked for that money and I have to live on it. But I took it further, the bank investigated the case and someone higher up listened to the call and realised what had happened.”
Amy is aware things could have turned out much worse.
Because of this Amy has teamed up with O2 launch Daisy – the AI granny wasting scammers’ time as part of the ongoing Swerve the Scammers campaign.
While there is a comedy element to a fake granny taking up the fraudsters’ time so they can’t target real victims, Amy wants other people who have found themselves in similar situations to speak out and raise awareness.
She said: “It’s not your fault. Don’t be embarrassed.
“These people are literally professionals – their profession is to extort money from people and you’ve just been a victim of that.
“By speaking out you can help others to avoid being scammed.”
Amy Hart has teamed up with O2 to raise awareness of phone scams and how Brits can stay safe by reporting suspicious calls and texts to 7726. To find out more visit o2.co.uk/swervethescammers
IF you’ve lost money in a scam, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or by visiting Actionfraud.police.uk.
You should also contact your bank or credit card provider immediatley to see if they can stop or trace the cash.
If you don’t think your bank has managed your complaint correctly, or if you’re unhappy with the verdict it gives on your case you can complain to the free Financial Ombudsman Service.
Also monitor your credit report in the months following the fraud to ensure crooks don’t make further attempts to steal your cash.
