‘They knew EVERYTHING about me’: Hollyoaks star Adam Rickitt fights back tears as he reveals he was scammed out of ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ in horror bank fraud

• The former Hollyoaks actor, 44, took to his Instagram on Friday to share that he was a victim of an elaborate push payment scam
• In the video, an emotional Adam told how he though he was rather ‘savvy’ when it came to security but admitted he was completely duped
• The star admitted he could hardly look his wife Katy in the eye after being conned and said that though some people may ‘laugh’ at him

Adam Rickitt has revealed that he’s been scammed out of ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ from a cunning bank fraud.

The former Hollyoaks actor, 44, took to his Instagram on Friday to share that he was a victim of an elaborate push payment scam, leaving him feeling ‘stupid’ and embarrassed’.

In the video, an emotional Adam told how he though he was rather ‘savvy’ when it came to security but admitted he was completely duped by who he believed was the fraud team at Barclay’s bank, remarking: ‘They knew EVERYTHING about me’.

Shocking: Adam Rickitt has revealed that he’s been scammed out of ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ from a cunning bank fraud

The star admitted he could hardly look his wife Katy in the eye after being conned and said that though some people may ‘laugh’ at him, he wanted to warn others from making his mistake.

An authorised push payment (APP) scam is when someone willingly transfers money from their own banking account to a scammer’s. Scams can be highly sophisticated, with criminals posing as legitimate organisations such as banks, government bodies or the police. 

A visibly moved Adam said in the video: ‘ So, I need to make an admission of something which is going to make me feel very stupid and embarrassed. I’m sure everyone’s going to rip the schmeichel out of me, but fingers crossed it means it won’t happen to someone else, so here you go. 

‘I got scammed this week with a push payment scam.’

Conned: The former Hollyoaks actor, 44, took to his Instagram on Friday to share that he was a victim of an elaborate push payment scam, leaving him feeling ‘stupid’ and embarrassed’ 9pictured as Kyle Kelly in Hollyoaks)

He went on: ‘I will preface all this saying I know I am not the brightest button in the entire repertoire but I consider myself relatively savvy but I just got completely conned.

‘Essentially what happened is that on Tuesday I got a text from Barclay’s bank saying there had been some suspicious activity on my account and a member of the fraud investigation team was going to be ringing me to discuss it. “

‘I got a phone call from an 0845 number and the chap Martin introduced himself said ‘I am ringing from Barclay’s fraud department, did the same security questions I always have.

‘While I was on the phone to him on my laptop I even went on the Barclay’s website to check the number he was calling from and sure enough it was the Barclay’s fraud number.’

Duped: In the video, an emotional Adam told how he though he was rather ‘savvy’ when it came to security but admitted he was completely duped by who he believed was the fraud team at Barclay’s bank, remarking: ‘They knew EVERYTHING about me’

Adam, who shot to fame on Coronation Street, continued: ‘Long and short of it was he explained to me that someone had been into the Crewe branch and had attempted to withdraw money. He said the only way that person could do that was using my driving licence and my passport and my signature.

‘He was saying “was that you? They somehow have your passport and driving licence”, at which point I was petrified it was identity fraud. Rang my wife, she checked and sure enough I had my passport and driving licence at home. So I said I don’t understand how this is happening. He said “let me ring you back”.

‘So he hung up the phone, I logged into my bank account, everything seemed fine. I got the phone call back again, and I immediately borrowed one of my friend’s phones to try and ring this number I had found on the website and it went through.

‘He said what he thought had happened was that it was a bit of an inside job, they had seen CCTV footage of a young lad, obviously not me, who had gone to the teller, asked people to go in front of them in the queue and when he got there he wasn’t asked to hand over his passport.

Tough: The star admitted he could hardly look his wife Katy in the eye after being conned and said that though some people may ‘laugh’ at him, he wanted to warn others from making his mistake

‘He said what was concerning them was not only was those two people, because of the size of the funds that were withdrawn there should have been a notification.’

Fighting back tears as he continued to recall his ordeal, Adam added: ‘So again, I got very nervous.

‘They said what they needed me to do was do a dummy payment, and what it would do is trigger a member of the fraud department. I said no I didn’t want to.

‘They said they would have to shut down the account, so I went back on to my account and sure enough the money was gone.’

Can’t believe it: The former pop star also shared a lengthy caption in which he expressed his shock that the robbers knew ‘everything’ about him

After telling how the thieves stole ‘tens of thousands of pounds’, Adam confessed: ‘I feel like an idiot. It’s hard to look my wife in the eye’.

The former pop star also shared a lengthy caption in which he expressed his shock that the robbers knew ‘everything’ about him.

He penned: ‘CONFESSION TIME! I know a lot of people will laugh at me for this…but I want to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

‘I got completely scammed this week by some fraudsters impersonating @barclaysuk

‘I was 100% sure it was the bank, that they were helping me and that I wasn’t even transferring funds or giving any details away. Alas the former wasn’t true..they managed to duplicate everything I thought to be safe…they knew EVERYTHING about me and my history with the bank…

‘I know we all think we know what to do or how to react…but honestly I have never known the stress it created over the course of the scam……and now the embarrassment I feel.

‘I can’t even begin to suggest how to protect yourself as I thought I was doing everything right…but please just be aware there’s people out there who know exactly how to play the system.Be safe x.’

UK Finance said some £583.2 million was stolen through authorised push payment (APP) fraud last year – a 39% increase compared with £420.7 million-worth of APP losses recorded in 2020. 

Nearly 40% of APP fraud losses were due to impersonation scams, where criminals pretend to be from a trusted contact or organisation such as the NHS, a bank or a government department to trick victims into moving their money.

Floored: ‘I can’t even begin to suggest how to protect yourself as I thought I was doing everything right…but please just be aware there’s people out there who know exactly how to play the system’

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