A builder left in crippling debt after being conned out of £95,000 in a social media fraud has spoken of his joy at getting a refund after getting crypto scam help from National Fraud Helpline.
Colin Theobald, 62, suffered nearly two years of hell after ploughing his late father’s inheritance, plus £50,000 in loans, into a cryptocurrency fraud he found on Instagram in June 2024.
The grandfather-of-three, from London Colney, said he was “depressed” when he discovered that the £550,000 that was showing in his investment portal was entirely fictitious.
“You go from that to realising you’ve got nothing,” he said.
“It makes you depressed. I’ve got two dogs, and if I didn’t have to walk them, I don’t quite know what I would have done. They kept me going.”
Colin was saddled with monthly repayments of about £1,100 a month to service his debt.
His banks, Revolut and Monzo, which have obligations from regulators to help protect their customers from fraud, initially refused to refund his money.
Colin enlisted the help of fraud recovery solicitors, Richardson Hartley Law, who run the website www.nationalfraudhelpline.co.uk, to get crypto scam help.
After the bank refused to pay out, the law firm submitted a claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service who ordered the banks to repay Colin £48,000 in total.
“I honestly didn’t think anything would come of it,” he said, “so I’m very happy to get something back.”
Martin Richardson, senior partner at Richardson Hartley Law, said: “We always believed that the banks should have spotted the unusual activity on Colin’s account and intervened.
“It was a long battle but I’m glad we have achieved this result.
“A lot of frauds start on Instagram and Facebook so people need to be incredibly careful when engaging with adverts.”
Colin was extremely vulnerable when he first saw the advert for a crypto-based investment opportunity on Instagram.
“My building company went to the wall after my business partner died of Covid, and I was having a few health issues,” he said. “I was waiting to get my gall bladder removed and on top of that I got pneumonia and sepsis, so I was in and out of hospital for about six months.
“It just all got on top of me and I was looking for an easy way out. I was not in a good place to think clearly.”
The fraudsters, who impersonated a legitimate investment platform exploited his desperation and persuaded him to invest, with promises of huge profits.
But when he tried to withdraw some of his supposed profits, he was told he needed to pay an additional £15,000 to pass anti-money laundering checks.
The criminals came up with a host of other barriers to withdrawing his cash, and he realised he had been scammed.
“Since then, I’ve learned a lot of things,” he said. “Now if somebody phones up I get all their details and try to contact the company. If it is a fraud I will report the number to the fraud line.”
Anyone can report a suspected fraud by calling 159, which transfers customers to their bank.
While Colin is happy his bank finally agreed to a refund, he remains furious at the volume of scams in the UK.
“I’m not ashamed I got done, but it annoys me,” he said. “I appreciate that the banks are paying the money back, but we never hear about people being caught.”
Colin spoke to the media to raise awareness about the scam.
Do you need crypto scam help? Contact National Fraud Helpline. Call 0808 303 0178 or fill out our Claim Form.
