EastEnders fans have recognised a newcomer to Albert Square from a "scary" advert that warned people against telephone scams back in 2018.
Katharine Bennett-Fox plays fake estate agent Melissa on the long-running BBC soap. Melissa has been hired by Janine in a bid to con Nancy and Zack out of their cash.
Janine needs the money to pay off Linda so that she'll leave the square. Janine is paranoid Mick will not be able to resist Linda if she's still around.
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When Nancy and Zack met Melissa, she claimed other offers had been made on a property they wanted to buy. She suggested they transfer the two year deposit upfront - and they did just that.
Later scenes showed the pair looking elated, blissfully unaware they'd just lost their money. But while the drama unfolded, some eagle-eyed fans recognised Melissa from a "chilling" TV advert.
The ad, from Barclays, featured Katharine Bennett-Fox as a shady call centre worker tricking a member of the public over the phone. She plays a seemingly helpful bank worker who pretends not to hear a caller’s unique security code.
By then getting them to divulge more digits she is able to access and fleece their account. The Barclays Digital Safety advert was launched after figures showed there had been 5.6 million fraud and cyber crime offences in the UK in 2018.
At the time, the Express said people reported being "terrified" by the advert, and "couldn't watch it before bed". Twitter user Eddie Robson said: "[She is] suddenly dead behind the eyes, like in Buffy when Angel loses his soul".
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, user betbinch said: "Not EastEnders casting the 'it's a scam' lady to play... a scam artist!". A Linda Carter fan account replied: "OMG AN ICON".
Matt said: "convinced that scam estate agent on EastEnders is that scam woman on the bank advert where she says ‘see what i did there?’". Tess Drive said: "Woman from the scamming advert on the telly?! Talk about typecast!"
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