'Fraudster stole my phone and tried to drain my bank'

The victim said he met the man on a night out in Manchester

A man has told how he was left distraught after another man he met on a night out stole his phone and used his banking apps to attempt to steal £1,000.

The 25-year-old, who has asked to remain anonymous, befriended the man and the pair took a taxi back to his home in Salford before the betrayal began.

Only after the visitor made an excuse to leave did the victim realise both his mobile phone and laptop were missing.

He has now spoken out in an attempt to remind others to keep their devices secure.

'Felt powerless'

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, he said: “I just felt powerless. I felt like someone was literally taking over my whole life.”

He said he believed the man learned his passcode after watching him unlock his phone during the evening in Manchester's Gay Village.

He feared the man had then changed his face ID to recognise his own face so he could unlock his banking apps.

The Monzo bank managed to stop an attempt made to transfer £1,000 out of his account, but the man did successfully withdraw £300 from his Barclays account at an ATM, using the bank card stored in the back of his phone.

The incident was reported to the police, but after a failed attempt to locate his phone using his smart watch, he said he was told it was unlikely he would get his belongings back.

There are various steps people can take to keep their devices secure

“When I got home I had notifications on my watch from my two banking apps Monzo and Barclays that I was moving money between them," he said.

"So then I really started to panic and was like, ‘this person is in my bank account’.

“I wake up and I feel really awful. I don’t feel like myself. I don’t have everything on my phone, I don’t have my laptop and I just feel like part of my life is gone.”

Advice to protect against fraud includes taking actions such as removing apps from your phone and keeping them on devices that stay at home

People should also consider using different pin numbers for unlocking their phones and opening banking apps

It is not a good idea to store passwords or pin numbers on phones, or to store bank cards in phone cases.

UK Finance, which represents 300 banks, said in 2023 criminals made £45m through mobile phone fraud from some 20,000 victims.

'Sophisticated'

Criminals often use a tactic police call "shoulder surfing" to learn victim’s passcodes before stealing their phones.

“Be conscious of your surroundings”, said Arun Chauhan, a fraud lawyer from Tenet Law and trustee of the Fraud Advisory Panel charity.

“Many of us underestimate how patient and sophisticated fraudsters are nowadays.

"They will essentially financially groom individuals and give them confidence to believe in them. So we have to be very conscious that fraudsters will play the long game.”

Monzo said it has a number of measures to prevent fraud from occurring.

The bank said the only time it would not provide a refund to a victim of mobile phone fraud is if it suspected a fraudulent claim.