BBC Look North's Peter Levy 'traumatised' after scammers steal half his life savings

A long-standing BBC news presenter has revealed he was unable to sleep for days after being scammed out of half his life savings. Peter Levy, who fronts the Look North programme for the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region, said he felt "stupid" after being conned by a bogus bank worker.

Speaking to BBC Radio Humberside presenter Richard Stead, the 69-year-old said the scam happened earlier this year. He said: "It is the most horrific, horrific feeling. It's absolutely awful. You feel stupid, you feel thick."It happened in February and is still being sorted out. Just this lunchtime I have been to a bank. It is awful, so when people talk about the scams it is dreadful, it is awful."

Levy, who has presented Look North since 2002, said he received an early morning call from someone pretending to be from his bank.

'You cannot sleep'

He said: "They ring up and say things like, 'This is the fraud department. We've noticed some unusual activity on your account. Have you spent £500 in the last hour?' And I said, 'No, I haven't spent £500 in the last hour. I've been at work'."

The scammers asked Levy to log into his bank account to carry out security checks, which he agreed to.

Despite conducting many interviews throughout his career about scams, he said he "fell for it badly".He added: "It is so traumatising and upsetting. You cannot sleep. You cannot do anything. You feel helpless and I fell for something."Levy went on to discuss the importance of having secure passwords and said people should avoid using their phones to scan QR codes on walls to pay for things like parking charges because they are often used by scammers to take money from people. He warned people to "queue, be patient, do not use the app on the wall."

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