30 March 2024 , 17:57
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Scammers are trying to rip off the hard-up by pretending to be Britain’s latest EuroMillions jackpot winners.
Crooks set up Facebook pages posing as Richard and Debbie Nuttall, who scooped £61million. They offer to help the needy but their real aim is to pressure people into handing over bank and ID details.
One single mum said her autistic daughter Dakota, 10, “cried with happiness” when the scammers offered cash – but then realised it was a con. Dympna McKenna, 47, of Kings Heath, Birmingham, said: “A friend told me about the page, so I took a look. Things are tight, so I thought, ‘Why not?’.
Dympna McKenna, 47 with daughter Dakota aged 10 who exposed a fake Facebook account in the name of Lottery winner Richard Nuttall (Darren Quinton/Touchstone VIsuals)“They were sending messages like, ‘It’s your lucky day’. Dakota saw through it. I thought, ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’. I decided to play along, see how far they’d go. All they wanted were my details. These people are evil, preying on the desperate.”
Richard and Debbie, both 54, of Colne, Lancs, hit the jackpot on January 30. A friend said: “They’re incredibly kind and will hate the idea of someone using their names like this.”
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Lottery operator Allwyn said: “We’re aware of fake accounts in Richard and Debbie’s name and made [Facebook owner] Meta aware this week, requesting for them to be taken down.”