Fraud victim fears he may never get over pain of being targeted

The man received a call from the US that he believed was a genuine attempt to buy shares

A man who lost £140,000 after being targeted by fraudsters says he fears he may never get over the betrayal.

The man, who declined to give his name but lives in Leicester, said he was contacted in January by what he thought was a company looking to buy shares he had in an insurance company.

He told BBC Radio Leicester the fraud had left him emotionally and financially vulnerable.

An estimated £1.2bn was stolen in the UK through fraud in 2022.

The figure was revealed last month by the banking body UK Finance.

'Embarrassed'

The man said he was preparing for retirement when he was called by a person in New York about his shares, and over three months of negotiating the sale he lost all his investment.

He said he felt "embarrassed" to have fallen victim to a scam but hoped speaking out would help to raise awareness.

"Your confidence hits the floor," he said. "In some strange way, you're embarrassed to tell anybody else."

While the financial fallout means he will have to delay retirement, the victim said it was the impact on his mental health that concerned him most.

"I just hope this doesn't affect my [mental] state for the rest of my life," he said.

"I think it probably will - even now I wake up most mornings at 4 o'clock, and it's the first thing [I] think about."

'Human nature'

Malcolm Philips, a fraud support victim officer, said he believed the fraudster got hold of the man's personal details through a data breach or similar means before targeting him.

"It's a standard case of a scam evolving as it goes, and they use the psychology of human nature to do that," he said.

"Somewhere along the line they've got [his] data, and they've been able to use that and apply it when they did."

Nicole McIntyre, from Leicestershire Police's economic crime unit, advised people not to open unexpected emails or texts, to always look for the real websites of banks, and be wary of people trying to sell products aggressively.

"If people are using pressure tactics and it sounds too good to be true, just take your time and come away and think about it before you take that next step," she said.