An Absolute Radio DJ has warned of a “hidden crime epidemic” after his parents’ life savings were stolen by a crypto scammer.
Andy Bush says his dad was drawn in after seeing a bogus advert online that featured a photograph of MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis.
A so-called “investment scheme” had promised returns of up to 8% on their cash – a figure that was sadly too good to be true. They had been told their savings would be placed into overseas accounts and converted into cryptocurrency.
Andy said his parents were contacted by someone called “John”, who earned their trust by ringing them daily for several weeks.
“I feel like the inability to communicate with a human being has thrust people into the arms of scammers who will quite happily call them three or four times a day and have a conversation,” he added.
“I think my parents thought: ‘Well, if we can speak to them on the phone, it’s got to be legit.'”
How the scam worked
“John” applied little pressure at first.
Andy’s parents were asked to download an app that was monitoring the activity on their phones behind the scenes.
They were initially encouraged to make small transfers from their bank account so it could be “invested”.
A separate app, which mimicked a cryptocurrency exchange, appeared to show their balance going up – but all of this was an illusion.
Over time, the payments they were asked to make grew larger and larger.
During the scam, Andy’s dad had also been pressured to set up a Revolut account in his own name to facilitate some of the transfers.
Overall, his parents lost about £20,000 – with “John” coaching them on what to say if their bank phoned up to check where the money was going.
“I do believe, behind the scenes, they felt like they were slightly in over their heads a little bit, but didn’t want to say anything to anyone,” Andy said. “There’s a kind of humiliation involved with this as well.”
‘John’ strikes again
The scam came to light when his mum asked to borrow thousands of pounds. She had been told another £5,000 needed to be transferred before they could withdraw or access any of their funds.
Andy said he’s angry that TSB, his parents’ bank, didn’t do more to prevent the cash from leaving their account in the first place.
“If you’ve got people in their late 70s who have a very sedate banking history – they don’t invest in overseas currency or anything like that at all – suddenly transferring large chunks of money, I just think that’s got to be raising some red flags,” he added.
“They’ve been in to see TSB – and TSB seem to say: ‘Well it’s nothing to do with us, we covered all bases.’ I disagree – I think they could have done a hell of a lot more.”
TSB has said that, under rules set by the Payment Systems Regulator, liability for refunds sits with the bank that sent funds to the fraudster’s account.
Andy’s family turned to a solicitor’s firm for help tracking the funds down. But to make matters worse, “John” then took the opportunity to strike again.
Soon after seeking legal advice, they received a fraudulent message that said their money had been found in an overseas account – and could be released for another £4,000.
Thankfully, Andy managed to intervene before their losses deepened. “You couldn’t make it up. You just think – haven’t you had your pound of flesh here?”
The scam has had a huge impact on his parents’ well-being. “It’s really affected them – they feel like they can’t trust anyone,” Andy said. “It’s made them doubt and question everything. It’s almost bordering on paranoia – but I guess if you’d been through what they’d been through, you can’t really blame them.”
Andy has been blown away by the number of people who have had similar things happen to them.
“I mentioned it on my radio show and I honestly cannot believe the amount of messages we had,” he added.
“It’s just below the surface. This kind of thing is absolutely rife … Loads of people don’t report it because they feel humiliated. They just chalk it down to a bad life experience and move on. But loads of people, at a time in their lives when they should have a nice little nest egg saved to go and do nice stuff … it’s all gone up in smoke.”
TSB said: “We were sorry to learn of the couple’s financial loss – and we have checks in place to warn customers of higher value transfers.
For more information about how we use your data and your rights, you can visit our Privacy Centre.
“However, the alleged fraud did not take place from a TSB account. The fraudulent payments were made by a different bank from an account in the customer’s name.
“Under the regulator’s reimbursement rules, the bank that made the fraudulent transfers is liable for refund and recovery.”
Andy’s dad had passed the necessary checks to open the Revolut account – including identification and a video selfie.
A Revolut spokesperson said Andy’s dad was shown several warnings that the initial transactions he was making might have been a scam.
They added that additional payments were blocked – and his account was offboarded – in response to continued suspicious activity, and “remaining funds were returned to another account under his control”.
“We urge our customers to avoid so-called ‘investment opportunities’, particularly those originating on social media platforms regarding cryptocurrencies, and ensure they undertake extensive due diligence to establish the legitimacy of any opportunities prior to making investment decisions.
“We also urge our customers to always take stock of our warnings and respond to any interventions truthfully, as they are there to help protect their money.”
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Revolut customers making suspicious transactions are given questionnaires to ask where the funds are going, and shown videos warning about the dangers of scams.
The bank has systems in place to prevent losses, and customers can speak to dedicated scam agents about the payments they are planning to make.
Martin Lewis has repeatedly stressed that he does not endorse investment schemes – and has called on tech giants to do more to clamp down on scam adverts featuring his likeness.
Last year, he told the FT Weekend Festival that “300 to 400” scams a day use a picture of him, with deepfake videos also a threat.
The financial journalist has called for regulators to threaten social networks with fines worth “tens of billions of pounds” unless they take action.
