After learning of crypto trading and being desperate for money due to the cost-of-living crisis, the full time student, who wants to remain anonymous, researched trading platforms and signed up for a legitimate website before being targeted by the crooks.
She was called by a man who took all her details and told her a “financial advisor”, who would do trades on her behalf, would contact her next.
The student, from Wickford, was first told to invest £250, and when she saw profit she was convinced to put in £2,000, then £5,000, and in the end she had £14,000 in what she believed was still a legitimate platform.
However, things turned sour when she decided she wanted to take out her initial investment so she was not “playing” with any of her own money, because she could not afford to lose it.
As they started the withdrawal process, she was soon contacted by scammers posing as her online bank’s finance department who told her she needed to make a payment of £5,000 to release the funds to her account, due to the large amount being transferred.
She only had £3,000 left to her name which she was told was fine, until they called again and said they still needed £5,000 to release her money.
After talking to her mum, she says: “That’s just when the lightbulb kind of went off and I thought ‘this is clearly a scam, what the hell am I doing?’”
The online bank has since confirmed with the trainee midwife it was not them calling her and they could not see any pending payments to her. The scammers are still asking for £5,000 to release her funds.
She said: “I’m just surprised that this happened because if I was in a room with ten people that I knew I don’t think anyone would say I’d be the most likely person to get scammed.
“I’m really shocked still about the whole thing and I just think if this could happen to me who is usually so aware with this sort of stuff then it really could just happen to anyone.”
The trainee midwife learned of crypto trading through a genuine-looking scam presenting as a news story involving a police officer seemingly chatting to This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby about her success with cryptocurrency.
Willoughby is aware her images are being used in the scam and has previously taken to social media to warn her followers that it is a con.
Anyone who suspects they have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime, should call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
