A woman from the West Flemish village of Varsenare has lost 25,000 euro to online fraudsters. The criminals took 25,000 euro from her bank account. Shanna Kimpe had sold a doll online. However, something went wrong with the payment and shortly afterwards she received a telephone call from a person claiming to be from Card Stop. Card Stop is the organisation you call in order to block a lost or stolen credit or debit card. The person that called Ms Kimpe said that he would resolve the issue regarding the payment for the doll. However, the caller was in fact an internet fraudster.
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West Flemish Mum loses everything to internet fraudsters
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Shanna Kimpe from Varsenare had wanted to sell a life-like doll on the internet. She told VRT News that "I received a response to my advertisement. Someone wanted to buy the doll and asked me to send it to Antwerp. I agreed on condition that they would pay the postal costs”.
The sale went ahead. However, there were issues with payment. I received a photograph showing that the bank had refused the payment. I was sent a link that supposedly came from Payconiq. I had to click on it. However, by doing so I had already lost an initial sum of money.
A few minutes later I received a call from someone claiming to be from Card Stop. He said that strange things were happening with my account and that he would resolve this. In order to do so he would need to install a programme onto my laptop. However, it later transpired that he was a fraudster and that is how they were able to get their hands on all my money”.
Shanna has lost everything
Shanna Kimpe has lost everything that was on her bank accounts, a sum totalling 25,000 euro.
"I blame myself. I am constantly asking myself ‘how could I have fallen for it?’. I had a feeling that something wasn’t right, but I still believed that it was a Card Stop agent calling. They are so professional and cunning and trained to instil trust.
"I still have a little bit of hope that I will get my money back because we acted quickly. However, the bank says that the chance is very small. It was all I had”.