.jpg)
The regular of former TV series Ladette to Lady, who has her own cookery school on The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells, was called on Monday, October 1, by a man who claimed to represent BT.
Mrs Shrager, 67, said she had a lucky escape and is now warning others to be vigilant against suspicious phone calls.
“It sounded very official,” she told the Times. “They said there was a fault with the BT Hub set-up.
“I gave them the Hub number. Using a programme, they logged into the system and said I was at risk from viruses.
“I said ‘I don’t know what is going on’ but they said the fault was theirs. They said they wanted to pay me £200 in compensation.”
Several members of a scam group were involved in the operation, and Mrs Shrager said the phone was passed around between the ‘BT team’.
She was asked to login to her online banking for the £200 to be transferred, but was shocked to see they still had control and were moving the cursor.
At this she became suspicious. The caller became aggressive and Mrs Shrager hung-up. The scammers phoned back several times but were unable to take any money from the account.
The chef thinks the group accessed her phone number through an NHS record and was later told that she probably only escaped losing money because of security settings on her Mac. The real BT later confirmed it was a scam.
“I’m not a gullible person but I was really taken in,” added Mrs Shrager, who has since wiped the data on her computer. “You might think ‘you are an idiot’ but it was very convincing.
“If I had not been so suspicious I could have lost thousands.
“I was frightened about how easily it was done and how they had access to my whole computer. I felt violated but I think the danger has passed.”
Mrs Shrager did not inform the police, but her bank is aware.
