A Fermanagh woman has transferred over her savings totalling £14,000 to brazen scammers claiming to be from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Rose Connolly had put the money away to go travelling, but those plans have been shattered following a phone call last Wednesday, June 2.

HMRC calls

Recalling the phone call which set things in motion, Rose said: “I was getting HMRC calls for months and I never answered them. And I got this one call on Wednesday morning which had a very similar number to mine.

“So I answered them and they said they were from the National Crime Agency and my National Insurance number had been used to open 15 bank accounts to use £72,000 in fraudulent funds or whatever and I panicked and was like okay.”

A person, claiming to be Allen Scott from the NCA told her to phone her local police stations and when she looked the number up online Rose thought it was legitimate.

The person on the other line said they were from Belfast Police Station and Rose thought it had been transferred from her local station due to the seriousness of the incident.

“What I had to do was send my money from Bank of Ireland to Revolut because they said we have to cease all of your accounts to make sure the scammer isn’t going to take any money out of my account.”

Relief turned to fear

After sending the money in two transfers of £5,000 and £9,000, Rose was then told to move this to a ‘Government Federal Safeguarding Account’ so investigations could be carried out and the money would be sent back when these were completed.

She admitted that after doing all of this she felt some relief but this quickly turned to fear following a conversation with her mother.

“I phoned my mum and she said they were scammers and to ring the police and Bank of Ireland.”

Rose recalls how she felt having to make those phone calls: “Absolutely terrible. Absolutely in shock. I didn’t want to believe it at first.

“At first I kept my head to see if it was a scam and rang Bank of Ireland and I think it was only into the second day I started to feel that hard sickness, it was honestly a sickness. A lump in my throat, a lump in my stomach. It was just horrible.”

Savings

The £14,000 was all of Rose’s savings which she intended to use for travelling and to help set her up in life.

She says the relevant authorities are investigating the scam but she has been given no assurances whether she will ever see a penny of her money but she wants to raise awareness of what happened to her.

“I always saw this [type of] thing on television and radio and thought that is never going to happen to me.

“But they made it feel so believable and made me feel panicked and preyed on my emotions and my frustrations and fears,” Rose added.

Extra vigilant

In recent weeks police have been urging people to be extra vigilant following a spate of scams which resulted in the loss of over £30,000.

Superintendent Gerard Pollock said: “We understand that any amount of money lost to a scammer is a horrible experience for anyone.

“The threat of fraud, both online and offline, against the public is a constant focus for us and I want to take this opportunity to again appeal to people that on no account should anyone disclose their personal or financial details over the phone; always err on the side of caution.

“It’s really important that if you have older members of family, talk with them and tell them legitimate providers will never seek their personal details, such as banking information, over the phone. This is a really important conversation to have.”

“Guarding your personal and banking details is essential. Never disclose them to any unauthorised person.”

“If you have any suspicions at all about a call you receive, hang up and phone the organisation the person is claiming to represent to check their authenticity.

“Ideally, make the call from another telephone so you can be sure the original caller has not remained on the line. Never be pressured into a transaction over the phone.

“If you have any concerns about unsolicited calls, emails or letters then please report it to Action Fraud via their website www.actionfraud.police.uk or by phoning 0300 123 2040. You can also call police on the non-emergency number 101.”

For further advice and important information on potential scams visit www.nidirect.gov.uk/scamwiseni or the ScamwiseNI Facebook page @scamwiseni