'Mum sent them £140,000': How to spot the signs a loved one is being scammed

'Mum sent them £140,000': How to spot the signs a loved one is being scammed Helen found herself unable to keep her mother away from the fraudsters, prompting her to reach out to the bank. She held a lasting power of attorney, which allowed her to act on her mother’s behalf and put protective measures in place on the accounts. Jim Winters, head of economic crime at Nationwide, advises that anyone who suspects a family member is being scammed should get in touch with their bank. "They mightiness beryllium constricted successful what they tin stock with you for information privateness reasons, but they tin instrumentality steps to safeguard that account," he says. "Once we cognize that a lawsuit is being defrauded we tin spot the hallmarks precise rapidly and instrumentality steps to interruption that spell." To date, the bank that Helen’s mother uses has returned £45,000 to her account. Although Helen changed her mother’s telephone number three times, she continued to provide the caller 1 to the scammers. She then replaced her mother’s smartphone with 1 that could only make calls and send texts. Winters besides advises "completely resetting" a loved ones integer footprint by changing telephone numbers, email code and societal media accounts. "That's what makes you visible, that's what puts you retired there. So taking steps to reset each of that is truthful important," he says.