Pensioner left 'devastated' after being conned out of £140,000 in supermarket gift card scam
Scam victim, Valerie Horwood, has spoken publicly for the first time
A pensioner from Fleet who lost £140,000 in a cruel scam is warning others to be on their guard.
Valerie Horwood, 81, was conned out of her live savings after a fraudster pretended to be an old school friend and talked her into buying hundreds of gift cards.
Gift card fraud is a crime on the rise and sees criminals re-sell the cards or convert them into cash online.
According to figures from Action Fraud, in 2019, 3686 people lost money in scams totalling £5,957,430. This year so far (Jan 1-Jul 31), there have been 4,582 victims who have lost £10,631,219.
Valerie bought thousands of pounds worth of gift cards in her local supermarkets
In September 2022, a scammer contacted Valerie on Facebook pretending to be Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist from rock band Deep Purple, who she went to school with.
The scammer, posing as Mr Blackmore, asked her to help him with an investment into a business and promised she would get her money back plus more.
He asked Valerie to install an messaging app on her phone called Signal.
Valerie was asked to buy Apple gift cards and send the codes to the scammer who was then able to redeem them.
It's believed Valerie lost approximately £140,000.
"I hope they catch the thief that has done this" - Ritchie Blackmore
Valerie said: "When I found out it was a scam, I was absolutely devastated. To think that I'd been pulled in you know, I thought I was helping a friend, getting the money, he was going to pay me back, he promised he'd pay me, it never ever came.
"I kept buying all these cards, as that's what he wanted, and then I kept getting 'can you get another, can you get another'. It went on and on and on and then eventually I'd run out of money totally."
In a further blow, Valerie has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. One of her final wishes is to visit her grandson who is working abroad.
Valerie's daughter Debbie Horwood said: "When mum gets older and maybe she needs to go in a home or she needs huge financial support, that's what her money could have been used for.
"Or doing lovely things that she's always wanted to do."
Here are some ways to protect yourself from gift card fraud:
Patricia-Ann Coomber-Wood, Citizens Advice West Northants and Cherwell
Valerie visited a number of supermarkets to purchase the gift cards. Tesco has given Valerie some money back but the rest have so far refused.
In a statement a spokesperson for Tesco said: "We take a number of precautions to protect our customers from gift card fraud, including limiting the number and value of gift cards that can be bought in one transaction.
“We are working with industry bodies to raise awareness of gift card fraud and have partnered with UK Finance on their Take Five To Stop Fraud campaign. We were the first supermarket to introduce scam warnings at our gift card displays in stores.
“We actively monitor gift card transactions and will investigate any suspicious patterns. Our colleagues receive training and guidance on how to recognise that a scam may be taking place. We also send regular updates to colleagues on what to look out for and how to report suspected scams.”
Other supermarket statements:
Morrisons:
“We sympathise with the victims of these scams, where vulnerable individuals are often the target. Retailers are educating their staff about these scams and are providing them with training to help to spot those targeted.”
Boots:
“We were deeply saddened to hear about Mrs Horwood’s ordeal. We take fraud of any kind very seriously and we regularly communicate with our store teams so they can spot the signs of fraud and provide safeguarding to victims. Our store management team in Fleet raised concerns approximately nine months ago after becoming suspicious of the unusually high value of gift card purchases being made by Mrs Horwood, after which we refused further sales to her despite assurances that the gift cards were for her grandchildren. We also contacted Hampshire Police to offer our support with the investigation.”
Sainsbury's:
"We take incidents like this very seriously and supported the police with Valerie’s case at the time.
"The measures we have in place to try to protect our customers from this type of fraud include:
Our till systems, including our self-service tills, limit the number of gift cards that can be sold at any one time, including a strict value limit and till warning
Colleagues are briefed to report suspicious Gift Card purchasing attempts
We include fraud warnings at the gift card fixtures, which highlight to customers how to spot and avoid these sort of scams
Waitrose:
“We’re really sorry to hear about the distress and financial loss that Ms Horwood experienced.
"We’ve issued additional guidance to our shops and, along with others in the industry, are looking at what additional safeguards can be put in place to protect vulnerable customers from gift card fraud."
WHSmith:
“We have strict processes for the sale of gift cards in place in all our stores to protect customers from being defrauded by scams.
"This is an unfortunate case where our store team followed appropriate steps to prevent potential fraud including making the customer aware of the risks, putting spending caps in place and refusing to complete several transactions.
"We are vigilant towards potential fraud risks of in store gift card sales and should the customer request an investigation we can support with our third party provider to attempt to cancel any unused gift cards.”
Asda:
Yet to respond to the request for a statement
A HSBC UK spokesperson said: “Protecting customers from scams and fraud is a priority for us and we are sorry to hear that Mrs Horwood has fallen victim to a gift card scam.
"We fully investigate every case to ensure fair and reasonable outcomes for our customers.
“As this case highlights, fraudsters are criminals who use a range of techniques to exploit their victims and convince them they are genuine.
"We advise customers to be mindful if contacted by anyone on social media asking for money, and to in first instance conduct thorough checks to verify that person’s identity.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Apple said: "We provide our customers with resources and information about how to avoid, identify and report potential gift card fraud and scams, including:
through our gift card landing page on Apple.com and in the actual purchase flow when a customer goes to buy a gift card through Apple.comin our Apple Support resources https://support. apple.com/en-gb/gift-card- scams
as well as on the actual physical cards where we remind customers not to share the number on the back of the card with other people
A spokesperson for Hampshire Police said: "Over the past eight months, our officers have worked with the victim and her family to identify all possible lines of enquiry, as well as offering support and safeguarding advice to help prevent her kindness and generosity from being targeted again.
"It appears that there was a technical fault which meant that screenshots from the app, used by scammers to communicate with the victim, were not retrieved.
"Despite phone examinations by officers and several requests to the app provider, it has not been possible to recover them.
"Sophisticated scams such as this are purposely designed to target the most vulnerable, preying on their willingness to help others, without leaving much of an electronic footprint which makes them incredibly difficult to investigate.
"At this time, we have updated the victim that this investigation has been filed, pending any further evidence that we receive.
"With our colleagues in Action Fraud, we are continuously working to raise awareness of these heartless fraudsters because it is always upsetting when the generosity of others is taken advantage of in such a malicious way. Part of this includes working with voucher providers and businesses who sell them around measures they can take to protect those most at risk.
"Families can also play a big part in helping to make sure these scammers are unsuccessful and we urge you all to tell your loved ones about these scams because the impacts can be devastating.
"Please follow the steps below:
• When speaking to someone online, be aware that they may not be who they say they are
• Slow down. Before you send money, talk with someone you trust
• Do some research: search online to see if you can see any information regarding a similar “scam.” Do the same with any charity or cause they’re asking you to support
• Never send money, gift cards or prepaid debit cards to someone you don’t know or haven’t met
• If you sent money to a scammer, contact the company you used to send the money (your bank, wire transfer service, gift card company, or prepaid debit card company). Tell them the transaction was a fraud. Ask the company to reverse the transaction, if it’s possible
• Report your experience to the social media site in question. If a fraud has already taken place, report it to Action Fraud and Police
• If you are a friend, relative or carer of someone you think might be vulnerable to this type of scam, please speak to them about this advice. You might be the person who helps prevent them becoming a victim to this type of fraud."
ITV Meridian has contacted Signal for a statement, but they are yet to respond.
Following her terminal cancer diagnosis, Valerie is being cared for full-time by her family.
Meanwhile, friends have launched a fundraising campaign to try and help Valerie recoup some of the money she has lost.
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