Kidderminster foodbank loses £50,000 in double scam attack

The couple were duped by fraudsters twice

Fraudsters stole more than £50,000 from a foodbank after its treasurers fell victim to a double scam attack.

Paul Guille and his wife Barbara are trustees of the Franche Community Church and foodbank in Kidderminster.

They were first conned by a fake text from NHS Test and Trace, before being targeted further by fraudsters claiming to be from their bank trying to help.

Mr Guille said the money had since been replaced but branded the con-artists "evil".

"We were absolutely gutted," he said. "We were devastated."

'Very believable'

The deception began with a message saying they had been in close contact with a positive Covid test and needed to buy a PCR test.

They did this with their personal account and called up their bank when they became suspicious that they could have been scammed.

However later the fraudsters called back posing as their bank, asking if there were any linked accounts that could have been affected, and so the couple shared the account details of the foodbank.

"At first they took £25,000 and then they came on the following morning and took the rest," Mr Guille said. "So they've taken well over £50,000.

"It's only when you start talking about what you've done that you realise you've done all the things you shouldn't have, all the things everyone warns you not to do.

"They're very believable," Mr Guille said. "They're very convincing."

The bank was able to recover the funds and the couple said staff had been "amazing", even setting up a collection for donations to the foodbank.

The couple are now urging others to be vigilant and watch out for similar scams.