A charity scammed out of tens-of-thousands of pounds by someone pretending to be from Amazon has had to close for good. Margaret Lippard, chair of trustees at Bargoed Community Hub, also lost substantial funds from her personal account and now wants to warn others about the risks of sophisticated scams.
The 81-year-old from Hengoed said had always been weary of cold-callers and felt "immune" to being scammed until it happened to her on November 27 2020. She said: "They rang me [on my landline] and asked if I had authorised Amazon payments. I said 'no' and then they asked me to go and look at my account - and there we the transactions I knew nothing about. It gave them credibility.
"I thought I was completely immune to scams because when I get a cold call, I put the phone down straight away and I always tell my husband to not engage with them. I think it was because at the time I wasn't very busy and this call wasn't automated - I just got pulled in." Read more: Fraudster did week's work on film set then claimed £36,000
Margaret said through her personal details in her account, scammers were able to effectively "hijack" her computer, mobile and landline for three days until November 29 so she could not use them. By the end of it, she said tens-of-thousands had been taken from her personal bank account as well as £55,000 of the charity's funds.
"They called on the landline, so tied that up," she said. "They then wanted me to keep my mobile phone open, so that was held up as well as my computer. I was essentially hijacked, I couldn't get on the internet to check if anything they were telling me was true."
Margaret explained that exactly half of this money bounced back automatically to her accounts from the recipient banks. However, with the charity still £27,500 short of cash, the organisation had no choice but to close down. Bargoed Community Hub was established 26 years ago largely to help young and struggling families in the area.
Since then it has provided advice surgeries, drop-in sessions, workshops, a cafe and more. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic it provided food to those struggling or in isolation. On Friday, April 29 volunteers and locals helped by the charity met for the last time at the hub, based on Bargoed High Street, before it closed its doors for good.
Margaret said: "The hub meant people having problems could come in and find us, it was a way of opening up opportunities for people, which of course it did. We had lots of people coming in and for some it was the only place they go to. [Friday] was incredibly sad.
"We had a 21-year-old who came in when she was 17. She was turned out of her home and didn't have much support and she had a child. She came to us because she heard about the hub and [on Friday] she told us she can now stand on her own feet and she wants to stay and help. Another said: 'This is the only place I come to, where am I going to go now?'." A GoFundMe page was set up by the community to help the charity.
As a scam victim, Margaret said she tried to reach out to the charity's bank, Lloyds Bank, to try and reimburse the remaining £27,500, However, she said she was disappointed when the bank refused. She said she was also concerned that the bank didn't block suspicious activity in the account.
"Lloyds absolutely refused to pay any more, even though there was absolutely no attempt to verify or authenticate whether it was me making these payments," she said. "There was no realisation that this was absolutely extraordinary activity on this account, nothing at all the check or to verify the activity or reimburse the lost funds."
The incident was also reported to Action Fraud, but Magaret said the line of inquiry could not be taken further. She was advised to take the her case to the Financial Ombudsman to see if it could order Lloyds Bank to reimburse her the money lost. However, after WalesOnline approached Lloyds Bank, a spokesman confirmed the full amount would be reimbursed to Margaret.
Although the Bargoed Community Hub will no longer exist as a charity, Margaret said the reimbursed money would be passed down to people in the community who wish to carry on their hard work. You can get more Caerphilly news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
A Lloyds Bank spokesperson said: “We have a great deal of sympathy for Ms Lippard as the victim of a scam and, after a further review of her case, will be refunding the remainder of the funds she lost as we recognise we could have done more to stop the scam. Fraudsters are always looking for ways to trick people into transferring their money, so it is vital to remember that no official organisation will ever ask you to move money to another account.”
