"I handed my bank details over...then realised what I'd done" - Victim reveals moment he realised cold caller was stealing his identity-Emma Munbodh

Malcolm Richardson had just picked up the phone and was mid-chat when he realised hackers were trying to steal his life using a Euromillions ploy

Alarming: £19 million was lost to fraud between April 2015-2016 and hackers are becoming smarter by the day

Every year 250 million scam calls are made to UK consumers, that's eight every single SECOND of the day - and the threat is ever growing.
That's despite cold-call blocking services like the Telephone Preference Service - which is designed to block nuisance numbers.
Malcolm Richardson, a 35-year-old from London, was left at the mercy of telephone hackers after falling for a fraudulent phone call - which claimed to be from a reputable research company.
"I received a call from a woman claiming to be conducting a market research survey on behalf of several large companies - including Virgin Mobile and British Gas,” Malcolm told Mirror Money.
"The call came from an 0191 number based in North Shields - it wasn't 'unknown' and I had no reason to be sceptical of it.
"The caller explained that if I completed the survey, I'd receive 10 free Euromillions tickets and a free one month subscription for magazine of my choice. I chose National Geographic."

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Giving the task little thought, Malcolm decided take up the incentive. He was not asked for any personal details, it seemed simple enough - he had nothing to lose.
"I was then asked a barrage of quite boring questions about five minutes. They asked me about my gas and electricity supplier, the type of TV I own, whether I had a pension and any outstanding debt.
"In hindsight, some of the questions were quite obscure, such as - if I won a holiday to Florida would I accept the holiday or cash?"
"I was then told someone would contact me in a few days to verify my details for the Euromillions tickets and the National Geographic. That was it."
The telephone number was 0191 640 7654 . It has now been reported dozens of times on consumer website Who-called.co.uk .

"I initially resisted" The trick - and how I fell for it

EuroMillions: Malcolm thought he was in with a winning chance (Photo: PA)

Malcolm received a follow up call exactly two days later. That's when he says alarm bells should have rung.
"I got a call from a man with a slight Indian or Pakistani accent. He mentioned the call on Wednesday. He confirmed my name and my address, he then asked for my date of birth."
The call was from the following telephone number: 020 3598 7260 - Malcolm's phone traced the call to London.
"He then proceeded to tell me that since the lotto increased its price from £2.00 to £2.50 they have suffered a loss in people buying tickets."
The conman offered Malcolm a 'limited three month offer' of 75 Euromillion lines a week for the price of four - £39 for three months.
"I agreed. He then said he needed my bank account number, sort code and email address to sign me up,

"I initially resisted, but he assured me he could not take money from my account with only these details. I was also assured that I could cancel the direct debit before it actually started.
"It seemed so genuine - he went on to read the 'legal terms' and then passed the phone to his line manager."

I handed my bank details over - then it got suspicious

Scammers are not just after your money - they may be after your identity too (Photo: Getty)

"It sounded like he actually handed the phone over, which is when I got very suspicious," Malcolm said.
"The 'line manager' went through the information I had given including my bank details again.
"He then also read out some disclaimers, and then asked me for five lottery numbers and two lucky star numbers.
"That's when my suspicions started to kick in. What was the need for the line manager? Why was he asking for numbers if it was a 'lucky dip'?
"I realised I'd fallen for a scam.
"I immediately searched the number online, which came up with a user comment based site with lots of people saying the number was part of a scam.
"I called my bank, deactivated my card, and and informed the fraud team of what happened."

Fishing - the art of stealing your information

Fraud is not a new phenomena - especially cold call hackers (Photo: Getty)

Phishing, vishing and smishing.
These three terms are all plays on the word 'fishing', in that the fraudsters fish for potential victims by sending emails, text messages or making phone calls with urgent messages in the hope of persuading someone to do something specific.
The aim is always to trick you into thinking you’re giving up personal information or making payments with someone you can trust.
The fraudsters will often use your details to steal your identity, or simply take the money you've paid and break all contact.
Action Fraud - the UK's security body - advises anyone suspicious to get in touch with the firm directly before handing over any information.
In this case, Malcolm could have got in touch with Euromillions to verify the offer before passing on any sensitive information.
Mirror Money asked Camelot - the firm behind Euromillions - about the "offer". A spokesman said: "This isn't anything to do with Camelot and we don't run promotions like this.
"However, we are aware that there are many organisations that attempt to obtain payment or personal details from people under a variety of pretexts.
"We'd urge readers to remember that, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
" Our website provides a wide range of advice to help people avoid lottery ‘scams’."
How to report it: Get in touch with Action Fraud as soon as possible or call 0300 123 2040.

How the criminals accessed Malcolm's number

Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime

Mirror Money got in touch with deputy head of Action Fraud Steve Proffitt to find out exactly how this happenned.
"There is an increase in computers automatically dialling every available number in the phone book," Proffitt said.
"These are programmed to divert the call to a human if a voice is heard or move to the next number if not answered after a set number of rings.
"My first advice is to always allow your phone to ring a number of times before answering it.
"In a lot of cases, the computer will have hung up and dialled the next number.
"If you do answer and there is a pause, because the call is being routed to a human, just hang up.
"If you are in touch with a human, then as soon as you recognise this as a cold call, very politely hang up, do not engage with any conversation with them."

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