Woman scammed out of £120k in fake Bitcoin investment scheme
Watch Katie Rowlett's report
A woman from Portishead has lost most of her life savings after being tricked into giving money to scammers.
Teresa Jackson, 63, thought she was investing in and trading Bitcoin after responding to an Instagram advert.
The retired teacher was contacted by someone claiming to be a 'financial advisor'.
She received lots of information in the post and signed up to the fake investment scheme. She even thought she had experienced successes and losses as she 'traded' her Bitcoin - but it was all a con.
In reality Teresa had instead been tricked into sending her money directly to the scammers.
By the time she realised, Teresa had lost more than £120,000 including all her savings and money she had borrowed from a friend, who she thought she would be able to repay quickly.
Despite the scammers seeming very professional and convincing, Teresa says she feels "very embarrassed" and "stupid" for falling for the false investment scheme. But she says the hardest part is she feels she has lost the trust of her children and her partner.
She said: "I only checked the website - it was very well worded - I read the terms and conditions. Everything about the company I read, but my checks were limited really.
"Lots of people have made lots of money on Bitcoin and because he was really knowledgable, he was so knowledgable, and he explained everything to me...
"I trusted him, I really did."
Although her bank were able to give Teresa half the money she lost when she reported it to them, they said they could not give her the full amount as she made the decision to transfer the money herself.
Teresa now claims Universal Credit as a result of losing the money and says she would not need to if she had not been scammed.
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