Woman devastated after losing ‘chunk of inheritance’ cash in scam

A woman was left feeling devastated after fraudsters stole a chunk of her life’s savings. It wasn’t until she called her bank back that she realised she had been scammed.On BBC MoneyBox, Caroline wrote in explaining how she fell victim to impersonation fraud.She claimed thieves had pretended to be from a delivery company to harvest some details from her and then used those to impersonate her bank, and warn her that her money was at risk.The criminals called her phone and pretended to be from Barclays, saying her account had been comprised and she should transfer her money to a safe account, which she did.It wasn’t until she had put the phone down that her husband entered the room to ask who she was speaking to, that the situation began to become clear.READ MORE: Rishi Sunak’s 55% pension tax may ‘send wrong signals’ to those saving for retirement A woman almost lost her inheritance sum (Image: GETTY)Her husband told her to call Barclays back immediately.She asked them for the notes on her file, but they didn’t have any and she knew she had been scammed.Caroline said: ‘I felt absolutely sick and gutted. I was devastated and felt violated and angry.’Just distraught because this was money that had come into my account from my mother’s probate.DON’T MISSDelaying retirement by 2 years can boost pension pots by £22,000 – ‘sizeable difference!’ [EXCLUSIVE]Pensioners could get £369 each month via vital DWP benefit – do you qualify for the sum? [INSIGHT]Britons face ‘myriad of issues’ – how to ‘have enough in retirement’ amid market turmoil [EXCLUSIVE] Britons are urged to remain vigilant online or when picking up random calls (Image: EXPRESS)Barclays issued an urgent warning to customers that they would never ask anyone to move their money into a safe account.If that happens, people need to end the conversation immediately and alert the bank.A new report out today is recommending sweeping reform in the way fraud is dealt with in England and Wales.The House of Lords Digital Fraud Committee has spent six months looking at the systems enabling fraud, the response to fraud and how victims are treated.Recommendations range from a time limit stopping high value payments from leaving accounts, to what it calls “less carrot and more stick” for companies who enable fraud.