Countryfile presenter Helen Skelton has revealed how she lost £70,000 worth of life savings to a telephone banking scam back in 2019.
According to the 38-year-old, the money was stolen after she answered just a few 'security questions' on the phone, believing she was speaking to her bank.
The shocking incident has left the mother of three fearful over how she can keep her children safe against scams online.
However, Skelton now hopes her involvement in a Lloyds Bank campaign to raise awareness around internet safety can help young people to avoid the same mistakes she made three years ago.
‘"I mean, come on – even as adults it is so easy to fall victim to a fraudster," she recently said in her Instagram Stories.
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"I’ve done it – it has happened to me. It makes you feel really stupid. But it has happened to so many people who aren’t stupid."
Her collaboration with Lloyds Bank is aimed to raise awareness of banking frauds, as well as the bank's own 'shield code' which 'gives parents and kids the tools necessary to spot and stop scammers in their tracks'.
Skelton, who was previously on Blue Peter, promoted the campaign on Instagram page earlier this week.
"I personally know the pain of being defrauded, so it is incredibly important to me that my children are equipped to spot a scam, even in the seemingly harmless environment of a video game," she wrote in the caption to the post.
Skelton relayed the story of how she got scammed in greater detail on ITV's Lorraine show earlier this year, explaining how she was duped into answer the security questions.
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"I got phoned up by the bank, told something dodgy had been going on with my account," the BBC host said.
"A week later, £70,000 had gone. All gone. And it was just a few questions over the phone.
"You don’t question your bank…We’re not talking about little old ladies who are victims who don’t understand the internet, that’s a massively naïve assumption."
While undoubtedly shaken up by the ordeal, she now explains how her main concern is keeping her children safe in light of ever more sophisticated and elaborate online scams.
As the mother of three children with her now-estranged husband, Richie Myler, she said about her eldest child: "The notion of him chatting to his mates online scares me a bit."
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"I don’t know that world and we’ve all heard plenty of things that could go wrong."
Skelton recently announced her separation from ex-husband of eight years Richie in a Instagram post, confirming: "Very sad to say that Richie and I are no longer a couple."
"He has left the family home. We will be doing our best to co-parent our small children."
Topics: TV and Film, UK News, Technology, Crime
Tom Fenton