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Loose Women ’s Denise Welch revealed she fell victim to a financial scam where thieves stole her money after she was tricked into giving out her PIN.
She joined panelists Kaye Adams, Brenda Edwards and Janet Street-Porter, who were in the studio, to discuss the rise in financial frauds and what to look out for.
Denise, 62, said: “I fall for stuff very easily and it’s really pathetic, I normally consider myself a woman of the world, but I am really not with stuff like that.
“I fell for one a couple of years ago which was the fraud department of my bank calling me, I was rehearsing a show so I kept coming out and it was the fraud department again.
(Image: ITV)
“I was worried, they said people had been accessing my account and taking money out of it, and this sounds so naive but because they were so clever and manipulative, and they did it over a couple of days, they asked me for my PIN number and I gave it to them.
“When I told Lincoln his head nearly exploded, and I said I know it’s totally ridiculous, and they had already taken the money, but it’s because they were playing the long game.”
She added: “But since then, I have been more savvy.”
(Image: ITV)
Brenda admitted she was almost victim to an HMRC scam recently, explaining: “I was so nervous and so scared. It was on Saturday, I was just doing some housework stuff, and a phone call came through and it said HMRC, so I answered immediately.
“When I answered, it started ringing, so it went through to somebody else, who said, ‘Hello, who’s speaking?’
“I said, ‘You called me, so who is calling me?'” she revealed, before adding she gave them her name before asking why they were calling.
“I received a notification saying there is tax fraud against your account, I panicked, I was sweating,” she said.
Kay remarked: “Yes, that is what they’re relying on!”
Brenda added: “But I put the phone down because they weren’t giving me my tax reference.
Kaye then revealed there was a scam going around where a message reads “new payee request to Mrs K Adams”, and she confirmed “if you receive this it’s a scam”‘
She continued: “It’s really embarrassing, people keep sending this to me on Twitter – so that it yet another scam.”
Kaye warned: “Ones that are doing the rounds at the moment, and this is not exhaustive, are TV licences, Royal Mail, tickets scams, because venues are opening, and HMRC scams, they are very much doing the rounds at the moment.”
* Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV at 12:30pm
