Banking fraud: 'Immediately my whole world collapsed'

Friederike Schroeder was conned out of £5,000 in a telephone banking scam

"Immediately, my whole world collapsed," says Friederike Schroeder.

"It was like I was living in a dream world all of a sudden. What is real, what is not real?"

Ms Schroeder, who lives in south London, was recently conned out of £5,000, or about half her yearly salary, by a fraudster who called purporting to be from her bank.

She said: "They called me in the evening and said 'it's Barclays fraud office and we have noticed suspicious activity on your account. Did you get any email from TV licence?'.

"He mentioned something else and I said yes."

The fraudster persuaded Ms Schroeder she needed to move money to her Revolut account.

She said the scammer's "voice was a very standard British accent and not suspicious whatsoever, very self confident, and felt like being put under hypnosis".

'What have I done?'

"From my Revolut, it was then transferred to a third bank," she says.

By the end of the hour-long phone call, £5,000 had been taken from the account.

"All of a sudden the call stopped and that was like a wake up call - what have I done?" she said.

Revolut, which is not registered as a bank in the UK but is authorised to provide e-money services, told BBC News it had "warned Ms Schroeder extensively about the suspicious transactions she was attempting to authorise".

She acknowledges this, saying: "Revolut did have lots of alerts coming up scam, scam, scam. Why did I ignore them? I have no idea."

Ms Schroeder wants more action from banks and the government to protect customers

The scam has taken a significant toll, both financially and emotionally, Ms Schoeder says.

"I obviously couldn't sleep that night and then in the next few days every time I fell asleep I woke up [thinking about it]," she says. "I was mentally exhausted."

"[I'm] not trusting anybody around me and people talking to me. I'm not picking up the phone anymore. I'm not answering any emails from banks, or anybody.

"It's just meaning I need to check everything."

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.

Ms Schroeder wants banks, regulators and the government to do more to protect customers.

A Revolut spokesperson said they were sorry Ms Schroeder had been targeted by "by ruthless and highly sophisticated criminals".

The spokesperson added that Revolut "works hard and invests heavily to protect and support customers", including in "sophisticated fraud modelling" and clear warnings on suspicious transactions.

"I think it can happen to anybody," Ms Schoeder says. "Young people have to be equally educated about [financial fraud] as soon as possible."

How to prevent fraud

The Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign is urging people to:

• Stop: Taking a moment to stop and think before parting with your money or information could keep you safe

• Challenge: Could it be fake? It is OK to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you

• Protect: Contact your bank immediately if you think you've fallen for a scam and report it to Action Fraud

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