Blackpool pensioner robbed of life savings by scammers pretending to Evri and Santander

Linda Leary, 79, feared the worst after losing £5,000 earlier this month. She had opened a dodgy link from an email purporting to be Evri, before receiving a scam Santander call. Her bank account was cleared out and she had to rely on family and friends for money.

Luckily Santander has since reimbursed Linda but she wants to speak out to warn others - previously thinking of herself as "computer savvy".

Linda, a retired civil servant, said: "I was absolutely gutted. I was really distressed an upset - it’s a horrible feeling that you’ve been stupid enough to let it happen to you. It’s depressing that there’s people out there to steal people’s livelihoods.”Linda was expecting a package from the Evri, the delivery company, three weeks ago. She then received an email on the delivery date - supposedly from the company - saying she would need to pay a small fee of £1.99. She paid it - but then had second thoughts so checked with her bank, Santander.

Linda said: “I tried to check with Amazon first as I was expecting a parcel. I thought it was a real email from Evri so I paid the money. I phoned my bank, and they said they’d stop my debit card just in case and sent me a new card."

However, the next morning Linda received another call - this time from someone claiming to be a part of Santander’s anti-fraud department.

She said: "I was told by the person on the phone that the email from Evri was fraudulent, and that in order to prevent money being taken out I should transfer all the money to a different account so that the old one could be blocked. They gave me instructions of what to do and how to open a different account. I was a bit suspicious so I asked how I knew that they were who they say they are.

“They told me to check that the number I was being called from matched the customer service number on my actual card. It did, so I thought it must be them."

But Linda became suspicious when she was later called again by the same person, who kept pushing her about applying for an overdraft. So she blocked the number and logged into her online banking.

She saw her life savings were gone - £5,000 in her savings account and £900 from her current account. Linda then called Santander, who launched an investigation. Thankfully, she managed to get her money back after four days.

She said: “In that time, I could only manage because my family helped me out. I thought I was pretty computer savvy, but this just shows that the method of scammers is getting more intricate.

"Santander were extremely helpful in dealing with my case and refunded my money within a few days of the investigation. This was such a relief as I had been so devastated, blaming myself for being stupid and vulnerable because of what happened."

A Santander spokesperson said: “We have a wide range of measures in place to protect customers from criminals looking to perpetrate fraud and scams. However, one of the best forms of defence against fraud is for customers to take time to check our help and advice pages on our website, and if in doubt about whether a service, offer or message is genuine, hang up if someone has called you and get in touch with us before taking any action. Your bank will never ask you to withdraw, transfer or send back money from your account.”

Evri was approached for comment.