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Loose Women’sDenise Welch confessed she was a victim of fraudsters who stole her money while posing as workers from her bank.
The former Corrie and Benidorm star turned presenter was tricked into giving out her pin during the scam, after someone called her claiming to be from her bank’s fraud department.
Fellow presenters Kaye Adams, Brenda Edwards and Janet Street-Porter couldn’t believe it as Denise, now 62, admitted she fell victim to the phone bank scam a couple of years ago.
She 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.”
“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.
Denise admitted her partner Lincoln Townley, tries to keep her updated about any new scams as they appear.
She said” “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, but since then, I have been more savvy.”
Denise wasn’t the only one who was made to sweat after a fake call.
Brenda said she’d fallen for the HMRC scam which involves a claim saying there is tax fraud on your account.
She said: “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?'”
After giving then her name she received a notification saying there is tax fraud against your account.
She said: “I panicked, I was sweating but I put the phone down because they weren’t giving me my tax reference.”
Other scams involve a text message which reads “new payee request to …..”
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.”
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