Adam Rickitt has been scammed out of "tens of thousands of pounds" in a bank fraud.
Adam Rickitt scammed out of savings in bank fraud
The 44-year-old actor took to Instagram to share that he has been the victim of a sophisticated scam, where fraudsters impersonated staff from Barclays bank.
He wrote on Instagram: "CONFESSION TIME!
"I know a lot of people will laugh at me for this...but I want to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.
"I got completely scammed this week by some fraudsters impersonating @barclaysuk
"I was 100 per cent sure it was the bank, that they were helping me and that I wasn't even transferring funds or giving any details away.
"Alas the former wasn't true..they managed to duplicate everything I thought to be safe...they knew EVERYTHING about me and my history with the bank...
"I know we all think we know what to do or how to react...but honestly I have never known the stress it created over the course of the scam...
"...and now the embarrassment I feel.
"I can't even begin to suggest how to protect yourself as I thought I was doing everything right...but please just be aware there's people out there who know exactly how to play the system.
"Be safe x"
Adam went on to explain in a video how sophisticated the scam was.
He said: "I will preface all this saying I know I am not the brightest button in the entire repertoire but I consider myself relatively savvy but I just got completely conned.
"Essentially what happened is that on Tuesday I got a text from Barclay’s bank saying there had been some suspicious activity on my account and a member of the fraud investigation team was going to be ringing me to discuss it. "
"I got a phone call from an 0845 number and the chap Martin introduced himself said ‘I am ringing from Barclay’s fraud department', he did the same security questions I always have.
"While I was on the phone to him on my laptop I even went on the Barclay’s website to check the number he was calling from and sure enough it was the Barclay’s fraud number."
Adam explained that the scammer made him believe he had been a victim of identity fraud, in order to trick him into cooperating with them and they eventually managed to take his money from his account.
He said: "So again, I got very nervous.
"They said what they needed me to do was do a dummy payment, and what it would do is trigger a member of the fraud department. I said no I didn’t want to.
"They said they would have to shut down the account, so I went back on to my account and sure enough the money was gone."