Amelia Mandeville-Marinaro, an author and first-time mum, has shared the details of a phone scam she and her husband fell victim to in the hope other people will learn from their mistakes
A woman has expressed her despair after she and her husband were swindled out of their life savings due to a common phone scam.
Amelia Mandeville-Marinaro, an author and new mother, took to her popular TikTok account to share her unfortunate experience in the hope that others might avoid falling prey to similar telephone phishing scams.
The 28-year-old addressed her followers directly and began: “Today, we were scammed which meant that we’ve lost our savings which is, you know, scary because I’m on maternity leave but I wanted to do this video so that other people learn from our mistakes.”
She continued, acknowledging potential criticism: “I know people are going to be like, ‘why are you so stupid, it’s obvious it’s a scam’ but I think sometimes, in the moments, you don’t realise it and I’m not doing that video to say we weren’t stupid.”
Her intention, by making the video, was to prevent others from making the same error.
What exactly was the phone scam?
Amelia detailed how her husband, Pete, received a call from an unidentified number. The caller claimed there had been a breach in their account and immediate action was required.
Pete then texted Amelia about the supposed risk to their account, assuring her he was dealing with it with what he believed was their bank. He requested Amelia’s card details, which she sent without hesitation, only to later question, “surely the bank knows what my card details are?”
Amelia’s ordeal began when her husband Pete mentioned a payment that needed her approval, which she found “weird”. He said the bank had instructed them to transfer their funds to a different account for safety.
At this point, Amelia felt “alarm bells” and upon checking their bank online, discovered no attempts to contact her. Despite her panic and sensing something “dodgy”, Pete reassured her that the bank’s message was a ruse to keep the intruder in the dark.
Regrettably, despite her doubts, Amelia “stupidly” authorised the transaction. Overwhelmed with emotion, she admitted: “Basically, we have just paid someone all of our savings and it was, it was silly, it was stupid of us.”
The distress forced her to stop filming. When she resumed, she explained the scam’s mechanics: “Basically, to summarise how we fell for this scam; Pete got a call that said that our account was hacked and someone was trying to spend all of our savings.
“Pete followed the steps from the guy, and they seemed to know a lot of details about our account and how much was in our savings so it seemed legit. So Pete followed the steps because the guy said he was gonna move our money into a safe bank account.”
How to avoid falling for a phone or phishing scam
In an effort to prevent others from falling victim to similar scams, Amelia shared some crucial advice: “Just so everyone knows, a bank would never, ever call you with no caller ID and a bank will never want you to move your money to make it safe.”
Amelia continued: “On a lot of bank apps, you can go into the ‘help’ section and it will say when your last call was and you know, if we would’ve known that at the time, we would have been able to see that our bank wasn’t calling us.”
The couple opted to share their story – even as Amelia conceded that both she and Pete “feel stupid” – since they “just don’t want people to make the same mistake and lose their money”. The unfortunate reality is that scams are becoming more sophisticated.
For instance, some scammers possess the capacity to spoof legitimate banking phone numbers, making these calls seem as though they genuinely come from a bank. It’s advised that when receiving such a call, the safest response is hanging up and personally contacting the phone number directly off the back of the bank card.
Anyone that has fallen prey to a scam can refer to guidance provided on the National Cyber Security Centre’s website: “If you’ve lost money or have been hacked as a result of responding to a phishing message, you should report it:
- In England, Wales or Northern Ireland, visit www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.
- In Scotland, report to Police Scotland by calling 101.”
