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00:00Scams and fraud are now the UK's most common crimes.
00:08Over the last year, they cost us £2.4 billion.
00:13And 61% of Brits say they've been targeted by a scam at least once a month.
00:20I've got a really sick feeling that I've been scammed.
00:25Tonight, the scammers who steal your charity donations.
00:28People were thinking, I like her content, I want to give to her fund.
00:33And it was going to scammers.
00:34And impersonate selfless campaigners.
00:37Here he is, dressed as Pudsey the Bear from Children in Need,
00:41collecting money for himself, without caring who they hurt.
00:45I feel like I was in some kind of tunnel of grief.
00:49I'm only really coming out of it now.
00:51The good news is it is possible to fight back, if you know how.
00:56Usually, it's a young person's funeral that is targeted.
01:00I've even been able to clone myself.
01:02I've been able to fool people that are very close to me.
01:04Whether you're approached in the street.
01:06Would you want to scan this QR code to help endangered animals?
01:09Or on your phone.
01:10I need to pay £2,744 in total.
01:14We'll help ensure you don't donate your money to a scammer.
01:19Thank you, Lexus.
01:20No scammer is going to derail us from celebrating the life of somebody we love so dearly.
01:27We're going to arm you with the tips, the tricks and the techniques
01:30to spot the scammers coming and make sure that you don't get caught out.
01:42The charity sector in England and Wales alone is worth more than £90 billion a year.
01:48That's a target-rich environment for criminals to exploit,
01:52well, us, for being decent human beings.
01:55We had children there who had just lost their mother.
01:58And we had a husband who had just lost his wife.
02:00And to have this on top, it was almost overwhelming.
02:03I'll meet a young woman whose life is disrupted when scammers pretend to be her.
02:08So this is an account that you had nothing to do with.
02:11No, I didn't even know it existed.
02:15You didn't know it existed?
02:17And would you give money to a charity scammer in the street?
02:21So if she was standing there with a contactless thing, you would have touched it?
02:23Yeah, yeah.
02:24Without doing any background work?
02:27No, I don't have enough time to do that.
02:37Welcome to our Scam HQ.
02:39In this hub, we are trying to analyse and look at every single scam we can come across
02:45that shows us what scammers are up to.
02:47How are they finding new ways to get hold of your cash?
02:51So, stay tuned to make sure that you don't get caught out.
02:56One of the simplest things you can do to stop scams in their tracks
03:00is talking about them.
03:01And we're particularly grateful to the hundreds of you
03:04who've contacted us by email and WhatsApp to share your stories.
03:09In this series, we've encountered lots and lots of really good people.
03:14Nice people.
03:14People who go out of their way to help others, to give to charity.
03:19And I'm really sad to say that those are the kind of people that scammers absolutely love.
03:26And that's what Grace, a disability advocate from East London,
03:29found out when scammers cashed in on her good name.
03:4221-year-old Grace is an up-and-coming star on TikTok.
03:46She has more than 1.3 million followers
03:49who watch her videos about her daily life with cerebral palsy.
03:53Me? Sarcastic?
03:56Oh, no, I would never.
04:01Right.
04:03This is where the magic happens.
04:06In the TikTok studio.
04:08Also your bedroom.
04:09Yes.
04:09What have you got in mind? What makes a good TikTok video?
04:12If we've got a cliffhanger.
04:15A cliffhanger?
04:16Yeah, or something funny.
04:20Grace tries to post a new video every single day.
04:23Today, she'll be doing a popular activity on TikTok.
04:27I know something you don't.
04:30I know something you will never know.
04:32Creatively lip-syncing to the audio from someone else's post.
04:35I know something you will never know.
04:38And turning it into a witty commentary about her own life.
04:42Now, why do people like doing this?
04:44I know something you don't.
04:46Well, I don't really know.
04:47I know something you will never know.
04:50At any rate, she's roped me in to help.
04:53We've got the light.
04:54And then we start countdown.
04:57Start countdown.
04:59Three, two, one, start.
05:02I know something you don't.
05:04I know something you will never know.
05:09Did we do it?
05:10It's starting again.
05:11OK, we've done it.
05:12So, how long does it take you to do a TikTok video?
05:15About 10 hours, depending on what editing it involves.
05:23It's a lot of work.
05:24But that work has raised at least £6,000 for charity.
05:29It also makes money for Grace.
05:31Her videos have become so popular
05:33that TikTok now pays her for posts
05:36that do well on the platform.
05:39Her first post of this mishap at the gym
05:42racked up more than 10 million views.
05:46I thought this is my sign to start educating people
05:52on my disability.
05:55Start raising awareness for cerebral palsy.
06:01And then within a year, I got half a million followers.
06:08And then I hit one million.
06:10It's amazing.
06:13Grace has a presence on various platforms,
06:16with the notable exception of Facebook,
06:19because, well, it's just not what the kids do.
06:21But her absence from the world's most popular social media
06:24site left an opening for a scammer who created
06:28an account in Grace's name.
06:31When was the first time you found out
06:33that someone was actually using your content to scam people?
06:38That account was in action two years before I found out.
06:45So this is an account that you had nothing to do with.
06:49No.
06:49But this account was pretending to be you.
06:52Yeah.
06:53All the content that you were making for TikTok,
06:57they were using that on the Facebook account.
07:02This has become a common tactic for scammers.
07:05Steal the content of someone popular
07:07and use that to bait more victims.
07:11How did you find out about the page?
07:13Oh, I just Googled myself.
07:16You were Googling yourself, were you?
07:18You went, hang on a minute, I don't have a Facebook page.
07:22So when you found out about the Facebook page,
07:25did you contact Meta?
07:28I reported it, like, up to 20 times a day.
07:35And I never got a response.
07:39No response?
07:39No.
07:41Unfortunately, the scammer's tactics worked.
07:44Grace's stolen posts on Facebook received an outpouring of love
07:48and sympathy from compassionate people.
07:51And that's where the real scam began.
07:54When they signed up to create a fund.
07:59A fund?
07:59Yeah.
08:01That is where people can send them gifts, like money.
08:09So people...
08:09But I'm not getting any money.
08:11No, no, no, because this isn't your page.
08:13Yeah.
08:13But people were thinking, I like her content,
08:16I want to give to her fund.
08:17Yeah.
08:18And it was going to scammers.
08:19Yeah.
08:19Do you know how much money they took?
08:21No.
08:22I wish I did.
08:24I found out they're in America.
08:28They're in the US?
08:29Yes.
08:29We should also mention that you're earning a living through TikTok.
08:32That's my full-time job.
08:34So when this whole thing happened, did it affect your job?
08:38Yes.
08:38I stopped posting for three months.
08:44Grace realised that all of her content was being stolen by the scammers.
08:48So the only way to stop them was to stop making content for them to steal.
08:53But that came at a cost.
08:56So how much money did you lose out?
08:58Around a couple of thousand.
09:01A couple of thousand pounds?
09:02Yeah.
09:03That's a lot of money.
09:03Yeah.
09:05Worse, because Grace stopped posting, her popularity on TikTok declined.
09:10So when she started up again, her posts had fewer views.
09:14And that means they earn less money for her and the good causes she supports.
09:20From what I understand, if you stop posting for three months...
09:23It drops.
09:24It drops.
09:25And then I've got to start...
09:27You've got to build it all back up again.
09:29And I'm still building it up.
09:31You're still building it?
09:32Yeah.
09:33Scammers are already doing tremendous damage to campaigners like Grace and the charities they support
09:39just by simply copying and pasting their content.
09:42I know something you will never know.
09:48But now there's a devious new way to impersonate charities and the celebrities who help them.
09:56The biggest problem we have is identifying who's on the other end of that email, that voice call, or that text message.
10:02But things are about to get a little trickier.
10:05Why?
10:06Artificial intelligence.
10:08AI tools available to scammers nowadays mean that they can send very convincing messages to try and gain our trust.
10:21But just how easy is it to create a convincing AI deepfake video?
10:27Well, one person who should know is tech expert Jake Moore from the global digital security firm ESET.
10:33You've been looking into this.
10:35And would you say that we have hit the point now where things are becoming really difficult to distinguish between the fake stuff and the real stuff?
10:46Absolutely. So AI, it's able to take someone's face, someone's voice, and it can recreate it to make it look like that person has said or has done anything.
10:56So I've even been able to clone myself.
10:58I've been able to fool people that are very close to me.
11:00Even my mum couldn't tell the difference.
11:02So we want to try something because we want to kind of show how good this technology is and actually how easy it is.
11:10So you've offered to do something terrible to me.
11:13You've offered to clone me.
11:17Yeah.
11:18So what are you going to need?
11:19I could just go to YouTube and collect some footage of you.
11:22I mean, you're out there. That would be rather easy to do.
11:25But I thought, why not show it from the very start?
11:27If I could film you for just a couple of minutes, I should then be able to use that footage and manipulate it into saying anything that I want it to say.
11:37That's all you need? Two minutes of me just talking?
11:39Yeah.
11:40Babbling on?
11:41Yeah.
11:42I can do that.
11:43So if you're ready, I'll click record in three, two...
11:48So the first time I met Jake...
11:51So those are the kind of things that Jake and I speak about.
11:55But I can't wait to see what he's going to do with my face now.
11:58Brilliant.
11:59There we go.
12:00You really can talk, can't you?
12:01I do, can't I?
12:02Before I can finish my next sentence, Jake has the footage uploaded onto a website that can create realistic computer-generated videos.
12:10We're going to submit that.
12:12And now your video is uploading.
12:14Great.
12:15I'm so excited to see what you're going to make me do.
12:18Coming up, Jake unveils a Lexus 2.0.
12:22That's scary.
12:24I said none of those things.
12:27But first, here's a quiz for you.
12:30What percentage of charities were victims of fraud in 2024?
12:34Was it 26%? 42%? Or a whopping 84%?
12:39Find out the answer below.
12:41Was it 26%? 42%? Or a whopping 84%?
12:46Find out the answer after the break.
12:56Before the break, I asked you what percentage of charities were victims of fraud in 2024.
13:02And the answer is 42%.
13:06Tech expert Jake Moore has gone away and produced an AI-generated deepfake video of me.
13:17He's now brought his handiwork to Scam HQ.
13:21Show me what you've been doing.
13:23Let's have a look.
13:24Hey, everyone. If you know me, you know I love a bit of magic and digging into the world of scams.
13:29And today I have a little announcement for you.
13:31So I'm officially joining TikTok.
13:33I've read your comments on social media for me to get on this app.
13:36If you want to get wiser to classic cons or just want to pick up a few of my favourite moves, follow me on TikTok.
13:42So, you're joining TikTok?
13:44That's scary.
13:46I said none of those things.
13:49None of those things came out of my mouth.
13:51Is there... Let me just pause it there.
13:53What's amazing about this is that it has my mannerisms, my hand movements, my shoulders going up.
14:01Yeah, so basically the software has only really played around with your mouth movements.
14:08Right.
14:09So all those movements of your shoulders and your head, that was in the original video that you did for me.
14:15How long did this process take?
14:17All in all, I'd say about an hour.
14:20But if I were to do it again, now I've created the template for you,
14:25the next one that I could make would be slim right down just to about a minute or two.
14:29Do you need any skills at all to do this?
14:32Not really.
14:35Now I know what you're thinking.
14:37Jake could have made that video of me when our cameras weren't rolling and this whole thing is actually a fake.
14:43Well, he made a second version too.
15:00All I caught there was TikTok.
15:04Was that Mandarin?
15:05Yeah.
15:06Was it?
15:07That's incredible.
15:08Yeah.
15:09That's the same script as before.
15:11But just in Mandarin?
15:12Yeah.
15:13So what are we saying to people?
15:17Is it, don't believe your eyes and ears anymore?
15:21You know, we've just got to start questioning things.
15:24It's when something happens like an instruction to give information away or to move money,
15:31that's when we should really be taking a step back and thinking,
15:34why should they be doing this and let's verify as much as we can.
15:37So this could say, hi, I'm Alexis Conran.
15:40I've discovered a wonderful cryptocurrency that is guaranteed to triple your money.
15:45Click on this link below.
15:47And I promise you that you're going to be making thousands of pounds a week every week.
15:51That's the problem.
15:53That's what happens.
15:54This has happened many times before and people will and do fall for this.
15:59Yeah.
16:00You have to start using your gut instinct to say, hang on, is this likely?
16:05I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
16:07Go with your gut instinct.
16:09Now, when I heard about this next scam, I was lost for words.
16:24I am used to scammers targeting the most vulnerable and weakest in our society.
16:31But this, this is just on another level.
16:34As Connor from Lisbon in Northern Ireland discovered,
16:37scammers now target charity donations made by grieving families in the midst of funerals.
16:53My sister was kind of part mother and was very supportive of me growing up.
16:57I stayed with her, spent a lot of time with her.
17:00And then I guess as I grew up with lots of kind of great nightside celebrations,
17:04went to parties together, we also fought like cat and dog.
17:07So it was a multifaceted relationship.
17:10She was diagnosed in August of 23 with stage four bladder cancer.
17:16And I guess we knew then that unfortunately there wasn't going to be a cure.
17:23She became very unwell pretty, pretty quickly.
17:26It was a kind of downward spiral.
17:28So all in all, she had six weeks from diagnosis to the day she died.
17:33Vicky was 44 years old.
17:36As well as Connor, she left behind her husband Robert and their two young children.
17:43On the day she died, the family turned to David Jess at Ronnie Thompson Funeral Directors.
17:50So here we are. This is the room that we hold the funeral service.
17:54Here at the front is where the coffin rests.
17:56As with most aspects of life these days, the Internet forms an integral part of the funeral arrangements.
18:02This is a bit that no one really ever gets to see.
18:05This is what happens behind the scenes.
18:07Services can even be live streamed for family and friends who can't make it in person.
18:12David said to me, he said, look, this will go on social media, the funeral times.
18:16I said, great. You know, the more people that will know, the better.
18:20And I remember collapsing basically in bed that night, absolutely exhausted.
18:26Unfortunately, it wasn't just friends and family who found out about Vicky's funeral.
18:31Early the next morning, I had come into work and as you do turn on the computer and have a look at the social media.
18:40So as I scrolled through the comments, there was a number made by this person acting as the husband of the deceased, asking for help with financial expenses.
18:49So these messages, they were just slotted in around other genuine sympathy messages.
18:56Scammers often find targets via social media posts like funeral notices.
19:02Taking advantage of Vicky's generous friends and family, they went begging for fraudulent charitable donations.
19:09David reached out to Connor to break the news.
19:13He said, look, I have some bad news.
19:15Somebody has been impersonating Robert.
19:18I assume this isn't Robert in terms of asking for these donations.
19:22I could categorically say absolutely not.
19:25David deleted all the fake charity posts, but that was just the scammers opening act.
19:31Just a day or so before the service, we became aware that friends of the deceased were being contacted with a fake Facebook page.
19:41And that contained a link to a live stream service.
19:44Attached to that live stream link was a comment that was requesting a payment for the live stream.
19:51And that's something that, you know, that we don't do.
19:54A link is provided free of charge.
19:59There was a level of embarrassment, actually.
20:01I was embarrassed to say to people that this is what somebody has done.
20:04You know, trying to use my family's kind of heartache as their springboard to do this scam.
20:13Short time before the service, that fake profile seemed to change a little bit.
20:18It was saying that the live stream was now free to view.
20:23But while family and friends were waiting on the service commencing,
20:27they could enter their bank details, their car details, and make a donation to the family's nominated charity.
20:37Of course, the family's preferred charity, Northern Ireland Hospice, didn't see a penny of the donations made via that link.
20:44That money went straight to the scammers.
20:47If I was in this situation, I might have donated 10, 20 pounds to a charity, thinking it was going to do a good cause.
20:55Or, you know, if I thought that I needed to pay a fee to watch a live stream, I might have done that.
21:03Incredibly, this is now an increasingly common scam on social media.
21:07These posts all bear the hallmarks.
21:10Poor spelling, limited details about the deceased, and no mention of a funeral director.
21:18Responsible funeral directors in the UK will never ask for money to watch a live stream.
21:24And charity donations should go either straight to them or to the charity's own website.
21:30There's one other disturbing trend here.
21:33Usually, it's a young person's funeral that is targeted with a family that is very much familiar with social media.
21:42And therefore, there's a lot of online activity.
21:45And that gives the scammer a lot of substance to work with.
21:49And the fake profiles just seem to be there indefinitely now.
21:53We've seen them as much as maybe 10 or a dozen times.
21:56And each one has been stolen from the family's own genuine page.
22:01Despite doing all they could to warn loved ones and shut the scam down, no one is sure about how much money the scammers got away with.
22:09I was livid that this was, A, allowed to take place, and B, was taking place.
22:15And then I felt completely deflated that this is one of the most difficult times of my life in terms of what we're trying to deal with.
22:22You know, we had children there who just lost their mother.
22:25And we had a husband who just lost his wife.
22:27We had family members devastated.
22:29And to have this on top, it was almost overwhelming.
22:32But we were resolute as family and friends that no scammer was going to derail us from celebrating the life of somebody we love so dearly.
22:43Coming up, the scammer's taking advantage of a mother's charity for her own kids.
22:49She's going to me, I've lent you money.
22:52And I'm like, you've lent me nothing.
22:54I don't know what you're going on about.
22:56But first, do you know the answer to this one?
22:59How much money did scammers divert from charities in 2023?
23:04Is it 2.7 million, 10.4 million, or 1.4 million?
23:09Find out after the break.
23:19Before the break, I asked you how much money did scammers divert from charities in 2023.
23:25And the answer is 2.7 million pounds.
23:30Now, in this episode, we've been focusing on scammers taking advantage of people online for their generosity.
23:37But don't forget, a lot of these scams actually happen face to face.
23:41So what would you do if you were approached by someone in the street asking to collect for charity?
23:50Hi, sir. Do you have two minutes to help?
23:52Hi, would you want to scan this QR code to help endangered animals?
23:58Scammers love nothing more than preying on the kindness of others.
24:02Very often, their scams are dressed up as charities.
24:06And this is what we're going to put to the test today.
24:08Our two intrepid volunteers look a bit like charity collectors.
24:12Angelica is dressed up as a volunteer.
24:15Our two intrepid volunteers look a bit like charity collectors.
24:18Angelica is dressed as a stereotypical high street fundraiser, hiver's jacket, lanyard, and a clipboard.
24:25Charlie is wearing, well, a dinosaur costume.
24:29But they are deliberately not referring to any specific charity, or even using the word charity.
24:35In short, they could be anybody.
24:38All they have is a vague message asking for support.
24:43And that popular scammer's tool, a QR code.
24:49If you do scan that QR code, you're going to get this message.
24:53Now, no money is going to change hands, but we just want to see how easy it is for scammers to get their hands on your money in the middle of a busy street.
25:05The initial hit rate is...
25:07Hiya, do you have two minutes?
25:09Low.
25:11Hi, would you two have a moment to scan this QR code to stop animal extinction?
25:15No, are you okay?
25:16No problem.
25:17Would you have a moment to just scan this?
25:20No.
25:22But even though people have absolutely no idea where their so-called donations will go, they start scanning.
25:30I'm just going to speak to this lady now.
25:32Hiya, what's your name?
25:34I'm Jo.
25:35Do you scan quite a lot of QR codes?
25:36I do scan quite a lot of QR codes.
25:38Do you worry at all about where they might be taking you?
25:40Sometimes I'm a bit like, hmm, where's the data?
25:42But also at the same time, I'm a bit, like, naive.
25:45So if the website was, we support families in need, please donate £5, would you have put your details in there?
25:51Sometimes, yeah.
25:53Yeah, I do get a bit stopped at the station sometimes.
25:55And, like, if I'm in a mood, I'm like, okay.
25:57Oh, but Jo, can you do me a favour?
25:58Yes.
25:59From today, you need to do, like, checks to who you're giving.
26:02Yeah.
26:03Deal?
26:04Thank you, Lexis.
26:05I used to work a job kind of similar to this for a bit.
26:07Obviously, when I see people outside doing the same thing, I try to support them.
26:10Would you have donated money on the website?
26:12Put your personal details in?
26:15Be honest.
26:16Maybe, like, if it was contactless or by cash, I might have done it.
26:19Okay, so if she was standing there with a contactless thing, you would have touched it?
26:22Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:23Without doing any background work, if she was the real thing?
26:28No, I don't have enough time to do that.
26:30You've got to.
26:32Yeah.
26:33You've got to.
26:34Well, this will make me worry for next time.
26:38So far, people seem more willing to trust a random person in a high-vis jacket than a dinosaur.
26:45Aw.
26:46But just when poor Charlie looks in danger of extinction, she scores.
26:50My name's Alex. What's your name?
26:52Robert.
26:53Tell me what just happened.
26:54Well, the crocodile or whatever came up to me.
26:57Dinosaur, Robert.
26:58Dinosaur.
26:59Come on.
27:00Look at the effort.
27:01If you landed on the website and it said, for £5, you could help protect a rhino and its baby for a month,
27:10would you have entered your details in to help?
27:12Possibly. Depends how convinced I am.
27:15Right, so if the website looked convinced.
27:17Yeah.
27:21Well, it will, like, give you some information about the cause.
27:25So we've only been here less than an hour, and we've had quite a few people scan those QR codes.
27:29Now, these QR codes can take you on to any website.
27:33Those websites can be very, very convincing.
27:35And even if they just ask you to register your interest by putting in your name and your address,
27:40that data is useful to someone somewhere,
27:44and you shouldn't be giving it away to just anybody standing in the street holding a QR code.
27:51Now, you may think our stunt was a little bit far-fetched, but we got the idea from this guy.
28:04Meet David Levi from Litham in Lancashire.
28:08For five years, he led a gang of scam charity collectors.
28:13Here he is, dressed as Pudsey the Bear from Children in Need, collecting money for himself.
28:19Now, the good news is that in December 2023, he was sent to prison for five years,
28:25and some of his accomplices also faced jail time.
28:29So the thing you need to remember is if you're approached online or in real life by anyone claiming to collect for charity,
28:36you need to stop and think, is this a scam?
28:40When someone approaches you in the street asking for money and donations for charity,
28:45they need to be clearly identifiable as the charity that they're asking money for.
28:52So are they wearing a tabard or a jacket or a shirt?
28:55Something with the charity's logo clearly visible.
28:59As well as displaying the charity's name or logo,
29:02As well as displaying the charity's name or logo,
29:05genuine fundraisers must also wear an ID card with their name and the charity's details.
29:12Now, let's say you see all that, you want to donate, but you're just not quite sure.
29:17Get your phone out and open your browser.
29:20Type in search charity register.
29:23First hit you're going to get is the government website.
29:26And in here, you can search the charity that you're being asked to donate.
29:30Now make sure you enter the exact name that you are being given on the street.
29:35So let's say, for example, I am going to be RSPCA.
29:42Let's see what we get, 188 matches.
29:44So for example, here we go, RSPCA Devon Branch.
29:47What's really important is right here, contact information.
29:50If you click that, then it takes you to the website.
29:54So go to their actual website, which is right here, and donate at the website.
29:59That way, you can make sure your money gets to the right people, and you can have peace of mind.
30:08In 2023, three quarters of us were giving to some sort of charity,
30:14amounting to £14 billion given to charities across the country and across the world.
30:21Now, they say that charity begins at home,
30:23and that number doesn't even begin to describe the generosity shown amongst friends and family.
30:32That's what Maureen from Liverpool discovered.
30:34Scammers are more than willing to take advantage of the charity parents show to their children.
30:47They asked me to transfer money to them.
30:50These days, Maureen lives alone with her rescue pug Benji and her two cats, Mimi and Oscar,
30:57her constant companions in life.
31:00But family is very important to her, as I found out when I paid her a visit.
31:06Hi, Maureen. Hi, how are you? Thank you so much.
31:12OK, let's meet the family.
31:14That was my husband, George, and me. That's right by the Sydney Opera House.
31:19Yes, the Opera House. How long ago were you there?
31:22That was in 2015.
31:25George died in 2021, and sadly, Maureen rarely sees her two daughters.
31:32One lives in Australia, the other in Canada.
31:35This is Jenny, and this is in Newfoundland, and it's freezing cold.
31:41And that's you in Canada?
31:42That's in Halifax in Nova Scotia.
31:45And this is where Jenny lives now?
31:46This is where Jenny lives now.
31:48Oh, lovely. Great family photos. I love these.
31:53Although they're far away, Maureen is in constant contact with her girls, mostly via WhatsApp.
32:00In early 2022, she got a message that seemed to be from her daughter, Jenny.
32:07She went back just before the new year, but she told me she was going to buy a laptop when she went back in the sales.
32:15The next thing is, I get a message on the 30th of January to say that she'd got a new phone and this would be her new number.
32:27But a picture came up of Jenny with her husband on WhatsApp.
32:32But it was her? You recognised her?
32:34Yeah, it was Jenny with her husband.
32:36That photo suggests this was not a random attack.
32:40The scammers were searching for a good target, and Maureen, recently bereaved with two daughters abroad, fit the bill.
32:49They gathered as much information as they could from the internet about Jenny, including that photo, and they made their move.
32:57She wanted me to do her a favour.
33:00Could I transfer some money to an account?
33:03And she said, could I transfer the money to this man's name?
33:07Because she owed the money to him.
33:09And it was 1,800 and something.
33:12But to be honest, it wasn't unusual for her to ask me for a loan occasionally.
33:17And so for me, it seemed like she was just asking me for this money to be transferred because she'd bought what I thought she was going to buy, which was a laptop.
33:29Scammers know it's hard to say no to our kids.
33:33Despite the clear red flags, Maureen found justification in her own mind for sending the money.
33:41So she did. And so the scammers asked for more.
33:46And then the next thing is, she said, would you be able to do this transfer as well? And that was for 1,400 or something.
33:55I think it's important now for people watching this to know that at that time, it was a very difficult time for you.
34:04Yeah, it was just two months after I buried my husband.
34:08I hadn't even paid for his funeral and things.
34:11And I was just sitting here on my own in the house, missing my husband, missing my children.
34:17I feel like I was in some kind of tunnel of grief.
34:20I'm only really coming out of it now.
34:23After a sleepless night fretting over how she would pay for George's funeral, Maureen messaged Jenny back about her worries.
34:31I felt really nervous about it and even said to her about not having the money.
34:36It was money that I think I told her it was for the funeral director.
34:40But instead of the so-called new number the scammers gave her, she accidentally used the number she already had for Jenny, which turned out to be a brilliant idea.
34:51So how did that conversation go?
34:54Hi, Jenny. Thanks for joining us. Nice to meet you.
34:59Jenny told us herself via somewhat juddery video call from Canada.
35:04So it was like around half four in the morning and I got a text message saying, so when are you giving me this money back?
35:10And she's going to me, you've let I've lent you money. And I'm like, you've lent me nothing.
35:15I don't know what you're going on about. Then she was she was going on about you've got a new number.
35:19And I was like, I haven't got a new number.
35:21I just felt that she was, I don't know, playing a joke on me, first of all.
35:27Is that the kind of thing that Jenny would do? Kind of a joke around? Would she wind you up a bit?
35:32Oh, she would wind me up about things sometimes.
35:36I am known to wind people up a bit. It's a trait I got from my dad.
35:41What's going through your head?
35:43When she she said, I haven't borrowed any money from you.
35:46That's when it occurred to me that I had been scammed.
35:49And I just went to pieces, to be honest.
35:52I'm going to have to get on a plane and come back home and see if I can help or, you know, do something.
35:57Because I felt like she was quite vulnerable sitting there by herself.
36:01How does it feel actually for you, Jenny? Because they actually pretended to be you.
36:06Not only that, but they also put a picture of you.
36:09It made me quite vulnerable in the sense that someone could pretend to be me and scam my mum out of so much money.
36:17I remember, like, texting friends just saying, like, watch out, you know, my mum's being scammed using my identity.
36:25Just be cautious.
36:27Maureen also felt she had to be more careful from that point onwards.
36:31It made me really security conscious.
36:34You'll notice I've got a good security system in the house.
36:38I've got lights, I've got cameras so I can see if anyone's about.
36:43Because it made me feel that I was almost getting attacked.
36:48Since this has happened, have you and Jenny made any arrangements, perhaps?
36:54Yeah, we've got a keyword that we say.
36:57Very good to hear, Maureen. That's what I like to hear.
37:00Yeah, we've got keywords.
37:01You'll know that if you ask each other what's the password, you'll be able to send it.
37:08Coming up, a fraudster tries the mum and dad scam on us.
37:13I need to pay £2,744 in total.
37:17What is going on?
37:22Before the break, a little quiz.
37:24Which of the following are illegal for genuine charity collectors?
37:28Standing in the door of a station?
37:31Approaching people sat on benches?
37:35Or following people down the street?
37:38Find out after the break.
37:49Before the break, I asked you which of these are illegal for genuine charity collectors.
37:54And the answer is all of them.
37:57Official fundraisers should never do any of these things.
38:00So if they do, walk away.
38:04In our quest to bring you the very latest scams, we have created these five what we call scam baiters.
38:11These are people who don't exist, but they have names, they have images created by AI, they have social media platforms.
38:18Most importantly, they have numbers and email addresses by which they can be contacted by scammers.
38:25Now, I want to draw your attention to Alex.
38:27Because not so long ago, he received a message on his phone saying,
38:31Hi mum, I've changed my number.
38:34Now.
38:36Firstly, Alex is a man.
38:38And also, he's not real.
38:40So we're pretty sure he doesn't have children.
38:42So we knew we were talking to a scammer, and we thought we'd have a little bit of fun.
38:46So I invite you to sit back, grab yourself some popcorn, and enjoy some scam amateur dramatics.
38:53Or scam andram.
39:03For your viewing pleasure, we will be reenacting, word for word, a genuine WhatsApp chat between our team and a scammer.
39:13I shall take on the role of the handsome young Alex, and playing the scammer in his television debut, Zack.
39:22Take it away.
39:23Hi mum, are you okay? I've had to get a new number.
39:27Oh hi hun, everything okay?
39:29I've got a debt. I need to pay today, but I've blocked my accounts being an idiot.
39:33And I forgot my passwords.
39:35If I send you the details, can you pay it for me?
39:38I can pay you back.
39:40I don't understand. What debt? How much is it?
39:44I'll be honest, it's quite an awful lot.
39:46I need to pay £2,744 in total.
39:50What is going on?
39:53I know I'm such an idiot for getting myself into such a situation.
39:57What situation?
39:59I borrowed the money a while ago for a friend when I was in a rough spot, which I know is stupid.
40:05I should have asked just for, you know, help.
40:07Who? Which friend of yours has got £2,000 knocking around?
40:11Are we going to go into all of this right now?
40:14Sad face emoji.
40:17But if you want my help, we bloody well are.
40:21For God's sake!
40:24You know I'm always there for you, but I'm quite angry just now.
40:29I can't believe you got yourself in this situation.
40:32Who is this person you borrowed it from? How do I contact them?
40:35Hun, if I'm going to repay this debt, I need to know where their money is going.
40:41Now, at this point, we've got a whole bunch of details.
40:44We've got a name, we've got a sort code and account number,
40:47a reference saying overdue 32,
40:50and the total amount was £2,744 and zero pence.
40:56Of course, we never sent this scammer a penny,
40:59but before ending the chat, we had a little go at catching him out.
41:03OMG! I completely forgot to ask, which child are you?
41:08It's your first and favourite, lol.
41:11Of course.
41:18There must be nothing worse than to discover that whilst you're trying to help a close family member,
41:23you're actually handing money over to a scammer.
41:26But there are things that you can do to protect yourself,
41:29and it only takes three simple steps.
41:32First up, we have ring.
41:35First thing to do, ring the number you have saved on your phone for that loved one.
41:41The scam can be dead in its tracks the moment they pick up the phone.
41:44You say, did you just change your number and send me a message about it?
41:47They go, no, that wasn't me. Scam's finished right there.
41:51So, do not call the number that you were given.
41:54Call the number you've always used.
41:58Next up, we have details.
42:00Try and get something that only you and they would know or remember.
42:05Something like a name of a pet or a specific holiday.
42:09Something that you would both know about.
42:12Now, do also remember that if you're one of those over-sharers on social media,
42:17that information might already be out there.
42:20So, it is a very good idea to try and set up a password
42:25for you and your nearest and dearest.
42:28You would ask for the password, scammer won't know it.
42:31Scam is dead in its tracks.
42:34And finally, bank.
42:37So, this is very simple.
42:39If you're being asked to send money to an account you have never ever used before,
42:43then stop and think.
42:45And I would say, do not do so until you've spoken in person to your nearest and dearest.
42:54Scammer
43:02What became of the scam victims we featured in this episode?
43:06Maureen lost around £3,000 when she thought she was sending money to her daughter
43:11to buy a new laptop over the mum and dad WhatsApp scam.
43:15Now, the good news is she got her money back from her bank
43:19and she's now set up a passphrase that her and her daughters use
43:23if they're ever in doubt that they are talking to each other.
43:27Grace, the lovely Grace, even though she wasn't out of pocket,
43:31she did lose out on income because she couldn't post content on her social media accounts.
43:37Now, the good news is that that fraudulent website asking people to donate to Grace has been taken down.
43:44We don't know how much money it generated, but hopefully it will remain down.
43:49And also the good news is that Grace is back online making her great content.
43:55As for Connor, though he didn't lose any money himself,
43:58he doesn't know how many people fell for the scam charity links set up in his sister's name.
44:04He sought help from both Meta and the police to trace the identity of the scammers,
44:09but so far none have been identified.
44:14Have you been scammed?
44:16Do you have a tip for us?
44:17Then please go to channel5.com take part.
44:21That's channel5.com forward slash take dash part and get in touch.
44:46Transcribed by https://otter.ai