Loose Women star Denise Welch has revealed how she fell victim to a phone scam.
The TV personality and actor, who has appeared on Waterloo Road, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street, explained on Good Morning Britain last week how she was tricked into giving away access to her account.
Speaking to presenters Ed Balls and Ranvir Singh, she explained that the scam happened a few years ago, before the pandemic. She received a phone call with the name of her bank, Barclays, displayed on the screen.
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"I went out, took the phone call – they said, 'it's the fraud squad'. They said, 'there was some fraudulent activity going on with your card, and we want to put a stop to it'.
"And I had absolutely zero doubt that I was talking to the fraud department from my bank because it had come up under the headline of Barclays that I had put into my phone", she said.
Welch stated she spoke to a "very personable" man named Michael over four phone calls and had shared details including her full name, address and mother's maiden name.
"They then said, on about the fifth phone call, 'this doesn't happen very often, but we're going to have to ask for your four-digit PIN'", she continued.
Denise Welch wants to shine a light on the rise of phone scams after falling victim herself after being targeted by fraudsters over the phone who convinced her of their legitimacy over several days which then led to her bank account being emptied. pic.twitter.com/gpuMlHeLZR
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 29, 2024
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"Now, even I know that you don't give your PIN away, but because I was talking to the fraud department at Barclays, I did. And the next day, I mentioned this to my husband, who went absolutely spare. And I was saying, 'But it was Barclays, what do you mean I shouldn't have given it to him? It said Barclays on my phone!'
"Of course, it wasn't Barclays, and they had apparently cloned my card over this period of time. It was my credit card, and by the time we had discovered it, they had taken over £2,000 from my account", she said.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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