Eamonn Holmes has shared how he was the victim of ID theft during his return to TV. The presenter was back on GB News today (January 9) as he returned to host the breakfast show alongside co-host Isabel Webster after being forced to take a four-month break from work.
The 63-year-old underwent surgery in September, which had a "20 per cent risk of going wrong", in a bid to help his chronic pain. However, just a couple of weeks after the op it was revealed Eamonn had suffered a fall during his recovery and had to undergo a second surgery after the accident left him with a fractured shoulder.
But as he made his return to the GB News studio, Eamonn opened up about another stressful ordeal. He revealed that he was a victim of ID theft as an imposter was 'using his name' while staying at a luxury hotel. "In Belfast, there may only be one Eamonn Holmes, yet a guy was able to go and live in a hotel using my name for two solid weeks at the top hotel in Belfast," he revealed.
"No one thought of saying, 'you’re not as handsome as Eamonn Holmes, you just couldn’t be Eamonn Holmes but he went and he lived in a central Belfast hotel for two weeks,'" he added. Eamonn explained how the scammer was able to 'steal a lot of money' out of his account.
"And then he bought building materials, slabs, concrete, marble fireplaces, all sorts of things," he said. "At the end of this, the judge said it’s a victimless crime so he wasn’t sent away. The judge basically thought that I should meet up with this guy and reconcile with him, whatever it is, and I basically told him where to stick it."
He fumed: "It isn’t a victimless crime. You begin to suspect people around you, people who work for you, all sorts of things. So you suspect lots of things and there’s the stress about it. I was very lucky in the fact that the bank reimbursed me but the idea that this is victimless is wrong."
Eamonn's ordeal came as Will Mellor also claimed scammers stole his identity, a 'substantial' amount of money and said that it had been going on for 'some time'. The actor, who reached the Strictly Come Dancing semi-finals last month, also claimed it's not the first time he's been a victim of fraud.
"It was a nightmare. Sometimes you just don't believe it could happen to you," he told GB News. "I caught somebody going through my mail and my neighbour had seen somebody and they alerted me. They said, ‘I think we've seen someone hanging on your letterbox’ and my letterbox is at the bottom of my drive.
"And this guy had been following the postman and intercepting my mail before I got to it. He had basically stolen my identity, opened multiple accounts in my name, bank accounts, and laundered money through those accounts. Obviously, he was intercepting the mail before I could see it so I wouldn't notice that I had these accounts open."
The 46-year-old later added: "I just wanted to let people know you never say always check your statements and anything that you think is a bit dodgy, make sure you check out. Basically, just be diligent. All you have to do is just make sure you keep an eye on your bank statements and always keep an eye on your transactions, check your credit history.”
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