Ballymena woman almost scammed out of nearly £2,000 by fraudster pretending to be daughter

Ballymena woman Ruth McCandless has shared the story of how she almost lost nearly £2,000 to a fraudster who contacted her through WhatsApp last Friday (5 March), pretending to be her daughter.

Ruth explained how she received a message on WhatsApp last Friday from someone purporting to be her daughter, using a new phone number and saying that ‘she’ had dropped the phone in the toilet.

Under the guise of Ruth’s daughter, the fraudster continued the conversation, who went on to ask for a loan of £1,970 hoping to coerce Ruth into transferring the money from her bank account.

It was at this point that Ruth, who wasn’t sure how to transfer the money, decided to drive to her daughter’s house to sort out the transaction.

The attempted fraud began to unravel when Ruth spoke to her daughter, but scarily, it almost succeeded.

Ruth said: “I returned home and was physically sick. I am so glad they didn’t get my money but I keep thinking of what could have been.”

Ruth has shared her story in the hope of warning others of the dangers and how the scammers operate.

The WhatsApp messages exchanged between Ruth and the fraudster are shown below.

If you believe you have been the victim of a scam or are concerned by the intent of unsolicited calls, emails or letters then please report it to Action Fraud via their website www.actionfraud.police.uk or by phoning 0300 123 2040, or call police on the non-emergency number 101.

For further advice and information visit www.nidirect.gov.uk/scamwiseni or the ScamwiseNI Facebook page @scamwiseni . ScamwiseNI have recently issued some helpful videos which show how these type of scams can take place and the terrible impacts for the victims.