A GP who was scammed online told his story to the Daily Mail as a warning to others.
The doctor lost more £50,000 to recovery scammers in a desperate attempt to claw back more than £185,000 he had lost after to a previous crypto investment fraud.
Dr Peter Bateman (not real name) was so distraught at being scammed that he tried one last roll of the dice to get his money back and contacted Blockchain Limited <legal check>, who told him they could help.
The family doctor who is in his 60s said the original scam had created huge problems at home.
“I was trying to save my marriage,” he added. “This company offered a possibility, and they showed me screen shots of all the money they’d found on the Blockchain.
“I said ‘that’s great’, and then of course it was ‘pay this to get it out, pay that to get it out’. I said ‘I don’t believe you’.”
But in December the scammers persuaded Dr Bateman that they were a legitimate company, and urged him to download remote access software from AnyDesk on to his phone so they could trace his lost money.
He said: “I told them that the Santander account was not to be touched, because it was my father’s account. But through AnyDesk they got in there and took £50,000.”
Being scammed online for a second time has compounded the misery for Dr Bateman and his family.
“We arfe now getting divorced,” he said. “We live in different parts of the house, and she doesn’t talk to me. It was toxic for my children who came home for Christmas. I’m stupid, I know that, and there’s nothing I can say that makes it any better.
The father-of-two has now turned to no win, no fee law firm National Fraud Helpline solicitors, a trading name of Richardson Hartley Law, to help recover the lost money.
Senior partner at National Fraud Helpline, Martin Richardson, said: ‘It’s very common that people who have been scammed are then targeted by fraudsters again with false claims to recover their lost money.
‘The fraudster will know where money has been sent and then pretend that they have successfully traced the money. This is particularly true of crypto frauds.
‘This is a very sad case that has had huge ramifications for the GP emotionally as well as financially.
‘Scammers are becoming ever more sophisticated. It’s yet more proof that, whoever you are, anyone can fall victim to a scam.’
Dr Bateman’s ordeal began when he decided to dabble in crypto arbitrage, which involves trading in digital currency.
He was advised by friends and fellow investors to use a broker, and an internet search led him to what turned out to be a fake BBC web page that claimed that DJ Sara Cox was a successful crypto arbitrage investor.
“It caught my eye because it said she didn’t have to work another day again if she didn’t want to,” he said, clicking a link in the article to the Wise Way Investments website.
Over six months from April 2024, Dr Bateman estimates he sent £185,000 of bitcoin, the price of which fluctuates, to various digital wallets from three different bank accounts.
Initially, he was only prepared to experiment with a £1,000 investment into a bitcoin wallet, which quickly grew by £200 within a couple of days.
He refused to invest more until he was sure he could get his money out, so the fake investment firm, which claimed to be based in Canada but backed by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) guarantee, sent him the £200 profit.
Satisfied he could withdraw money, he was encouraged to make further investments, and the profit in his account kept climbing.
But problems began when he wanted to withdraw his profit, by now up to about £15,000, before investing more.
The balance in his online account dropped dramatically, but the fake firm claimed he now had £150,000, which he could access by paying an HMRC tax of £2,000.
He paid the tax, but no money appeared, and the scammers told him his bank, Revolut, was not accepting the payment.
The fraudsters said would need to send a ‘mirror payment’ of 10 per cent into a bitcoin wallet to get his cash.
“That was £15,000 and it took me two or three days to pay that through Revolut,” said Dr Bateman. “By this time Revolut was not letting me send large amounts of money, so I had to send it in two separate payments.
“I put in my 10 per cent, and it disappeared. They claimed I must have taken it. By now they said my account was up to £250,000, and this chap called Alex told me he would send it to me if I gave him a big tip.
“He said ‘this is the sort of thing I would do for $10,000’, so I said ‘look, if I get that money out you can have $10,000’, but I’m not paying that until it’s in my account.”
Alex told Dr Bateman to download an Earn World wallet, where he could see what appeared to be 5.32 bitcoin, the equivalent at the time of £266,000.
“They said I could withdraw it if I paid 10 per cent, about £25,000, but Revolut would not let me send any more money, and neither would Kroo,” he said.
“Alex advised me to send the money to another UK-based customer called Carlos, who was not having similar problems sending them money.”
He was able to send two payments of £10,000 via his Monzo account, but they blocked the third payment, which the scammers said had risen to another £10,000 because of a rise in the value of bitcoin.
However, Kroo now allowed the payment, and Dr Bateman was told he could now withdraw the money.
“They said ‘it’s been wonderful doing business with you’,” he said. “And that was the last I heard from them.”
He subsequently discovered that the bitcoin in his wallet was, in fact, ERC-20, worthless tokens which he cannot withdraw.
“Each time I got off the phone to them, I felt enthused, but then as the days passed and nothing happened I would then think ‘oh no, I’ve been scammed’,” he said. “They are very good at building trust.
“I think to myself that if I’d just stopped at that first £1,000, and taken the £200 profit they sent me, that’s all I would have lost.
“I feel so bloody stupid. I consider myself internet-savvy, or so I think to myself ‘how could I get scammed?’”
It was pure desperation from originally being scammed online that led him to explore ways to recover his money, only to end up being scammed again.
Monzo, Revolut, Santander and Kroos through which the money was transferred have all rejected a refund claim.
National Fraud Helpline is now bringing the GP’s claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Have you been scammed online? Contact National Fraud Helpline. Call 0333 0033218 or fill out our Claim Form.