Labour MP’s bank account targeted by scammers three times in three weeks

Published

3 years ago

November 3, 2022

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A Labour MP has told Sky News she had her bank account targeted by scammers three times in three weeks.

Carolyn Harris, who represents Swansea East and is deputy leader of Welsh Labour, said she went through four debit cards in a month after the raft of fraudulent transactions.

And she is worried more vulnerable customers will not know when cash is being taken from their accounts, or have access to their money when their cards are cancelled, if they don’t use mobile banking apps.

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The saga began on a Thursday in September when Ms Harris started receiving texts asking her to authorise payments, ranging from £300 to £1,500, which she continually declined.

“I phoned the bank that night and told them I thought someone was trying to scam me,” she said. “I waited quite a long time to speak to the fraud team, then I got cut off.”

Two days later when shopping in Swansea, the MP was alerted to a problem with her account again.

“I bought one thing with my card and it was fine, but when I went to the market to buy fruit and meat, my card got declined,” she said.

“So I went to the cash point to get money out and it got declined again.”

Ms Harris headed inside the bank to get advice, but after a long queue, she was told any queries had to go through the fraud team – meaning another 40 minute wait on the phone to speak to the department.

“The person wasn’t very nice if I am honest and only wanted one word answers,” she said.

“After a quite fraught conversation, they said I had been scammed, they cancelled my card and promised another would be delivered five days later, which it was.”

But the Labour politician was soon hit again by another scammer.

‘I was stuck in London without any money’

“I’d had my new card for three days and was sat in my flat in London on a Sunday night before heading into parliament the next morning,” said Ms Harris.

“I took a look at my account to see if money that had been taken before had been refunded and I saw more transactions.

“I was worried, I was stuck in London without any money as I only had my card, so couldn’t get anything.”

Another phone call and another cancelled card later, she was thankfully able to download her new card onto her phone so she could use it straight away, while the physical version would be sent to her home by the end of the week.

But her scamming experience wasn’t over yet.

“Roll on another two weeks and I am lying on a sun lounger on holiday in Portugal,” she said. “And there are even more transactions, this time all going to either Facebook or in foreign currencies.”

Back on the phone to the bank and it appeared the scammers had managed to set up standing orders from her account, meaning she wasn’t even notified of the amounts going out.

“That’s three weeks, three lots of scams, and four cards in a month,” she said. “And [the bank] had no idea at all how it happened, no-one seems to know.”

Ms Harris told the Home Affairs Committee that she called the police on her return to the UK, as not only had scammers targeted her, but they’d also targeted one of her staff members, which she thought was suspicious.

“They came to see me, but they can’t do anything at all,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, my local force are brilliant, but all these transactions were happening abroad and they aren’t able to sort this.”

For Ms Harris, it was a case of inconvenience, needing to get the new cards and update details for her subscriptions, like Netflix, Amazon and her car tax.

But she is concerned that not everyone would be in the same position.

“I had an app on my phone so I could check transactions and I was able to download a new card onto my phone too,” she said. “There is no way on God’s earth some pensioners would be able to do that.

“Even my husband doesn’t have an app on his phone and doesn’t check… and he doesn’t think that is abnormal.

“If it happened to my mother, she wouldn’t know until the bank statement came the next month or until her card got declined.

“And when I was on holiday, I asked if I could go into a branch with a passport and get money out and they said no. What would she have done?”

‘There has to be a better way’

The Labour MP said it made her worry even more about local high street branches closing down, adding: “Technology is a wonderful thing, but only if you are up to date with it.”

She said “there has to be a better way” for banks to stop fraud happening in the first place and making their customers aware if they aren’t online or using mobile banking.

“I remember booking three flights once and when I went online to book another two… my card got declined and I got a phone call, so the technology is there,” she said.

“Banks have to get better at telling people.”

Action Fraud has published advice on how to protect yourself and your account:

• Don’t throw out anything with your name, address or financial details without shredding it first
• Don’t leave things like bills lying around for others to look at
• Never reveal your full password, login details or account numbers to anyone who contacts you through an unsolicited call or email
• Ask any caller to give you a main switchboard number, or hang up and call your bank back on the legitimate phone number printed on your bank statements
• Check your statements carefully and reporting anything suspicious to the financial institution concerned.

World

Nine of Gazan doctor’s 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

Published

10 hours ago

May 24, 2025

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Nine of Gazan doctor's 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.

Warning: This article contains details of child deaths

Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.

Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.

Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.

In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.

The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.

“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.

“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”

British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack

Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.

Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.

The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.

Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.

‘No political or military connections’

Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.

“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”

He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”

Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

World

UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes

Published

22 hours ago

May 24, 2025

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UN's Antonio Guterres condemns 'teaspoon' of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes

The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.

He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.

Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.

The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.

Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.

Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.

Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.

The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.

The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.

The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.

But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.

Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.

The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

World

’12 people’ injured in stabbing at Hamburg train station – as woman arrested

Published

1 day ago

May 23, 2025

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'12 people' injured in stabbing at Hamburg train station - as woman arrested

A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.

An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.

They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.

Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.

There was no immediate information on a possible motive.

The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.

The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.

A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.

Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.