Denise Welch lost thousands of pounds through a phone scam.
Denise Welch lost thousands through a phone scam
The 66-year-old actress - who has been married to artist Lincoln Townley since 2013 - revealed that some time ago, she received a convincing phone call from a "very personable" fraudster pretending to represent her bank and "didn't hesitate" to give him sensitive information because she was sure it was all genuine, especially as the call matched the ID she already had saved.
Speaking on ITV's 'Good Morning Britain', she explained: "It was a few years ago, pre-pandemic and I was happily in rehearsals for 'Calendar Girls: The Musical', we obviously weren't supposed to look at our phones but we all have a sneaky look and there was Barclays. So I went out, took the phone call, and they said it was the fraud squad.
"I had absolutely zero doubt that I was talking to the fraud department from my bank because it had come under the headline for Barclays that I had put in my phone.
"I was talking to this chap called Michael, he was very personable and I went over all the information you are duly expected to give. My full name, date of birth, my address and postcode and my mother's name. I didn't hesitate because it said Barclays.
"Over about four phone calls, Michael had become my best friend, he said it was taking a long time to do this because this was a fraud that was potentially going to be bigger than they thought.
"They then said on the fifth phone call that it didn't happen very often but they needed to ask me for my PIN. Now, even I know that you don't give your PIN away but because I was talking to the fraud department at Barclays, I did. The next day, I mentioned this to my husband and he went absolutely spare."
The 'Loose Women' star eventually discovered that the whole scheme had been a scam and has now decided that going forward, she will always hang up when she gets such a call and ring the bank herself.
"And I said 'But it was Barclays! What do you mean I shouldn't have given it to him? It said Barclays on my phone! And I showed him the trail of information I'd had before that, that genuinely was from Barclays.
"And of course, it wasn't Barclays and they had apparently cloned my card over this period of time. It was my credit card and by the time we discovered it, they had taken over £2000 from my account.
"If I'd been sat at home and this was happening...but I was at work, I was in and out, I just wanted it sorted.
"Do not give your information to anybody unless you can somehow be 100 percent sure. Ring them back, anyone whois calling you. Even if you may have spoken to them before. Say 'You've called me, I'm gonna put the phone down and I'm gonna do my due diligence."
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