A US musician has revealed he’s been scammed out of his entire £300,000 retirement fund in a shocking blow.
Singer G Love revealed that he had accidentally installed some malicious software onto his computer which resulted in scammers taking all of his cash.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Performer G Love has revealed he has fallen victim to a scamCredit: GettyHe has seen his entire retirement fund wiped outCredit: Getty
The performer took to X – formerly Twitter – to speak out on the incident that saw his entire retirement fund stolen.
He wrote: “I had a really tough day today I lost my retirement fund in a hack/Scam when I switched my @Ledger over to my new computer and by accident downloaded a malicious ledger app from the @Apple store.
“All my BTC gone in an instant.”
The singer appeared to be referring to his bitcoin investments in the tweet.
ABSOLUTE Radio DJ Andy Bush has revealed heartless scammers have stolen his elderly parents’ life savings.
In total, the devastated couple, both 78, were swindled out of £16,000 in an elaborate scheme that used Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis‘s trusted name to entice them.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Absolute Radio’s Andy Bush has revealed his parents have been scammed by fraudstersCredit: AlamyThe scam used a fake ad that used Martin Lewis’s trusted reputationCredit: ITV
A ‘broker’ going by the name of ‘John’ gained Andy’s dad’s trust after he clicked into an online link promising to maximise his savings. In reality, Good Morning Britain star Martin had no affiliation with the advert at all.
Andy, who hosts Hometime with Bush&Richie, told The Sun: “They’re really humiliated.
“My dad’s an ex-computer programmer, systems analyst. So he feels someone like him, who’s had a job like that, shouldn’t be falling for a scam like this. So they feel very, very humiliated.
“I feel like a lot of their kind of plans and dreams have kind of gone up in smoke a little bit because that little nest egg that they had to go and do nice retirement stuff is now suddenly completely gone.”
Andy’s dad has memory issues, which his son believes made him more susceptible to the scam. Neither Andy, nor his brother, had any idea his parents were moving around large sums of money, and he believes they were coerced by ‘John’ not to tell anyone.
Once his dad had clicked the dodgy link, a portal opened to ‘John’ who was then on the phone to them “non-stop”.
Andy likened it to a romance scam and said his parents told him they would speak to ‘John’ on the phone two or three times a day.
“Even when it all came to light that it was a scam, my mum still wouldn’t believe that John, lovely John, would do this to them. So, they really bought into him as a person,” said Andy.
‘John’ set up a Revolut account on Andy’s parents behalf and began transferring large chunks of money from their TSB savings account.
He coached them on what to say to TSB agents when they queried the transfers — though Andy is upset that the bank didn’t do more to clamp down on the out of character money movements.
“Every time they transferred a chunk of £5,000, £6,000 or whatever, TSB would phone up and go, ‘just making sure you’re not transferring this to whatever’. And they would say, ‘no, no, it’s for this, that or whatever’,” he said.
‘John’ then instructed them to put an app on each of their phones, which allowed him to have full access to all their details and to see what they were doing on their devices.
He also installed a fake crypto exchange that showed their money rising at an impressive rate when in reality it had all but disappeared.
Eventually, Andy found out something was amiss when his mum asked if she could borrow £4,000 in order to deposit it into her account to pass an ‘anti-money laundering check’.
Alarm bells immediately rang and Andy asked her to show him the email from ‘John’. Upon seeing it, he said he knew “straight away” that it was fraudulent.
In the meantime, ‘John’ had arranged a £4,000 loan with M&S Bank, which led to Andy’s parents having to cancel their cards after multiple payments began to be made on them.
Andy’s intervention didn’t immediately put an end to the scamming.
DJ Andy, seen here with Michael Fassbender, said his parents feel humiliatedCredit: Alamy
Two days later, his parents received an email from a fake cryptocurrency loss recovery company that claimed it could recover their stolen money.
The fresh scam asked for forms to be submitted and a £3,000 payment paid. Andy said he believed the original scammers were behind it.
Even though, his parents’ phones have been wiped, he said there are still concerns the scammers have access.
Andy and his parents have now instructed CEL Solicitors who specialise in recouping money lost to fraud and have contacted the police.
CEL told him that they deal with 500 such cases a month and some £500m is stolen from people each year in total.
He said: “I’ve had so many messages from people who have not just had their parents scammed like this, but a woman in her 30s was scammed out of money when her baby was seven days old because she wasn’t concentrating properly and just pressed the button. You know, young people, old people.
“My mum and dad don’t know who to trust now.
“It’s brought up some really horrible conversations. My mum and dad have always been very outgoing and doing different things, and they’ve always got plans and all that kind of stuff. Now they have to run pretty much everything past me and my brother just to double-check that they’re not being scammed again.”
HOW TO NOT GET CAUGHT OUT BY A SCAM
Follow these tips by Virgin Money to avoid being caught in a trap…
Protect your details
Never disclose security details, such as your PIN, full banking password or one-time passcode to anyone, even bank staff.
A genuine bank or organisation will never ask you for these on the phone.
Don’t assume an email, text or phone call is authentic.
Just because someone knows your basic details (such as your name and address or even your mother’s maiden name), it doesn’t mean they are genuine.
Remember, criminals can also make any telephone number appear on your phone handset so even if you recognise it or it seems authentic, do not use it as verification they are genuine.
Don’t be rushed
A genuine organisation won’t mind waiting. Under no circumstances would a genuine bank or some other trusted organisation force you to make a financial transaction on the spot.
Always remember: Stop. Think. Check.
Listen to your instincts
You know if something doesn’t feel right.
Criminals may lull you into a false sense of security when you are out and about or rely on your defences being down when you’re in the comfort of your own home.
Stay in control
Don’t panic and make a decision you’ll regret. Have the confidence to refuse unusual requests for personal or financial information.
It’s easy to feel embarrassed when faced with unexpected or complex conversations. But it’s okay to stop the discussion if you do not feel in control of it.
