A grieving Scots widow whose bank denied her fraud claim after callous scammers stole £2,000 from her savings has received her money back after the Daily Record highlighted her plight.
Margaret Eggatt fell victim to a sophisticated text scam from an unknown number stating she had made a payment to Amazon.
A con artist posed as an Amazon employee and managed to gain access to the pensioner's bank account.
The 68-year-old, who lives in Livingston, was having sleepless nights after Santander refused to pay back the stolen cash, which included her pension and PIP payment.
Delighted Margaret is now over the moon and looking forward to a dream two-week cruise around the Mediterranean in a few weeks that had been planned before the theft.
She said: "If it wasn't for the Daily Record then I wouldn't have gotten my money back.
"I don't know what state I would have been in or what I would have done.
"I would be sitting with no money.
"A huge weight is off my shoulders now and when Santander phoned I couldn't believe it.
"I am over the moon.
"I am a bit nervous about my cruise as it's the first time I'll have been away without [her husband] Michael but I am looking forward to it.
"Getting the money back before the cruise is such a relief as I was in debt."
Margaret received a text message from an unknown number stating she had made a £79.99 payment to Amazon.
As she doesn't have an account with the retail giant, she called the number to query the payment and claims a man who said he worked for the e-commerce company answered.
He apologised for the business' mistake and told Margaret to download an app called AnyDesk to get a refund.
Unknown to the pensioner, the app is a remote assistance software and allows someone to access your device if you provide a code.
Soon after she noticed that over £2,000 had been taken from her bank account in two payments.
The devastated gran, who is still grieving the loss of husband of 49-years Michael, was left overdrawn and in debt before her first holiday without him.
Her bank Santander initially denied her two fraud claims in a bid to retrieve her missing cash.
After a Daily Record article was published on Margaret's devastation, the bank changed their decision and refunded the money.
Margaret has now urged people to remain cautious and ignore any suspicious text messages but added that if anyone did find themselves in a similar position, to contact police.
A spokesperson for Santander said: “We take protecting our customers from fraud and scams extremely seriously and have a great deal of sympathy for people targeted by these criminals.
"We have reviewed Mrs Eggatt’s case, including her specific personal circumstances, and have decided to refund the £2,079 fraudulently taken.”
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