Couple lost £9,900 to TV licence scammers after husband, 65, responded to a fake email asking for their bank details
- Jerry Tack and his wife Carole, of Hampshire, had two saving accounts emptied
- They were told they needed TV licence renewal and put details on an online form
- Building society Nationwide say they can’t reimburse because he gave details
A couple have been left penniless after TV licence scammers emptied their bank accounts in a ‘particularly nasty’ case of fraud.
Jerry Tack, 65, and his wife Carole, 61, had £4,000 stolen from two separate saving accounts, as well as £1,900 from his current account.
The couple, from Hampshire, desperately tried to resolve the situation with their building society Nationwide only to be told they couldn’t do anything because Mr Tack had willingly given his details.
The 65-year-old is one of 5,000 people who have been tricked into handing money over on the premise of a TV licence renewal in the last three months, reports the BBC.
Jerry Tack, 65, and his wife Carole, 61 (pictured together), of Hampshire had £4,000 stolen from two separate saving accounts, as well as £1,900 from his current account
The scammers, described as ‘particularly nasty’ by Action Fraud, use ‘official-looking’ emails with headlines such as ‘correct your licensing information’ and ‘your TV licence expires today’ in an attempt to convince targets to click on a link to a website.
The website then prompts them to add their payment details, including the Card Verification Value (CVV) code, account number and sort code.
The bogus web page may also ask for the victim’s name, date of birth, address, phone number, email and even mother’s maiden name.
Mrs Tack told the BBC: ‘We were left penniless until the end of November.
‘Hubby and me fell out big time over it. I didn’t speak to him for about a week.
‘Christmas for us was a complete wash-out. I didn’t even put any decorations up – we didn’t feel like it.’
In the Tacks’ case, Jerry thought he was just renewing his TV licence and filled in an online form with some of his details.
Two days later a phone call came from someone pretending be his building society.
The scammers asked about two fake transactions and when he said he hadn’t authorised them the caller advised him to move his money into a ‘safe account’.
At this point he was sent a text message from the ‘building society’ with a code, triggering a password reset.
Mr Tack assumed the code had been sent by the person he spoke to on the phone and filled in his details.
The scammers then had full access to three accounts, taking every last penny.
When the couple realised what had happened they contacted Nationwide, who told them they had fallen victim to an ‘authorised push payment’ (APP) scam.
But because Mr Tack had willingly handed over the details, they have refused to reimburse them.
A spokesman said: ‘We’re very sorry that our member has been a victim of this cruel scam.
‘Unfortunately, despite warnings generated by our systems, the member gave away details to the fraudster and originated all of the transactions into the third-party account.’
A TV Licensing spokesman said: ‘TV Licensing will never email customers, unprompted, to ask for bank details, personal information or tell you that you may be entitled to a refund.’
The couple say they accept Mr Tack made a mistake, but expected more protection from their building society.