NatWest have issued an urgent warning against energy discount phishing as a pensioner was scammed out of £25,000. Action Fraud said it had received reports of hundreds of different scams about energy support alone.
Diane Jones was sent a text message telling her to claim her £400 energy discount.
As she receives disability benefit, she assumed the £400 payment was connected.
But almost as soon as Diane, 65, entered her bank details, she realised she was a victim of fraud and contacted her bank.
She said: “I’d been rushing around that day and just clicked on it when it came on my phone.
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“My mind was in a muddle. As soon as I did it, I realised I shouldn’t have done.”
Households across the UK are being given £400 off their energy bills to help with rising costs, but it’s automatically applied to their bills and is not something people need to apply for.
During the week, she was contacted by someone purporting to be from the bank’s fraud team, she assumed they were following up on the earlier scam.
The man persuaded Diane that her account had been compromised and she needed to transfer her money to a new bank account, via an app which he asked her to download.
DON’T MISS
That was just one of the key messages shared with NatWest Premier customers at a recent event on fraud.
Panellist Paul Maskell, fraud and cybercrime Manager at UK Finance, said it was important to “stop, take a breather and be…
