A personal finance expert has shared her chilling encounter with identity theft and fraud, proving that even the most financially savvy individuals are not immune to the tactics of scammers.
Lynn Beattie, known for her work as Mrs Mummy Penny, revealed her ordeal to i News. The 47-year-old returned home one day to find a package on her doorstep from an online store she didn’t recognise and hadn’t ordered from.
Upon investigating her account, Lynn found that eight items had been purchased under her name and a credit limit of £3,000 had been opened without her knowledge.
While two of the items had been delivered to her, the remaining six had already been collected from a local shop.
The shocking reality dawned on Lynn: her identity had been stolen. Fraudsters had obtained her full name, address and date of birth from online sources.
Due to her public persona as Mrs Mummy Penny, some of this information was willingly available online.
However, Lynn, who resides in Hertfordshire, was alarmed to discover how much of her private information was accessible through other channels such as social media and unsecured websites. With these details, the scammers were able to use a burner phone, temporary number and fake email address to set up the account and credit limit in her name.
Lynn was alerted to the fraud when the scammer mistakenly sent two packages to her actual address. The online company swiftly removed the fraudulent transaction from her account and cancelled it, while Lynn reported the incident to the police.
She said: “I explained I had a public profile, and they took it very seriously. They assigned an officer to investigate the case and I had an ID theft specialist call me to reassure me.” She was advised to install a Ring doorbell to record anyone approaching her property and to add extra locks to all entry points in her home.
Despite the scam leaving Lynn feeling “incredibly fearful”, she admitted to feeling “a lot safer” after implementing these additional security measures at her home while the police investigation continued. Regrettably, the culprits were not apprehended.
She concluded: “All of the processes around protecting my identity following this event were also extremely stressful and very time-consuming.
“It really can happen to anyone, even personal finance experts like me, so I want people to be as aware of cyber security as possible.
“Ensure you have done an audit to check for anything that could identify your address or location and keep close tabs on your credit files. You could also look into identity protection services which is an easy way to safeguard your identity and privacy and now gives me a lot of peace of mind.”
