ITV Love Island star Amy Hart has revealed how she fell victim to a sophisticated phone scam that stole £5,000 from her bank account.
The 31-year-old shot to fame in the 2019 series of the hit ITV dating show.
Hart decided to leave Love Island after 37 days and now shares a baby boy with husband Sam Rason.
However, her happy life as an influencer was interrupted by a shocking scam.
“You’re sweaty, you’re worried, you’re panicking, and you just want to sort it out. They use pressure tactics,” the 31-year-old revealed.
In 2022, Hart received a phone call from an unknown number that seemed to correspond to her bank’s fraud team when she looked it up.
The callers warned her of some “dodgy activity” on her account they would need her details to fix.
Hart explained they demonstrated in-depth knowledge of her finances, including showing her one of her genuine transactions.
“When you’re in the moment on the phone it feels so fast paced. It feels so noisy. You’re hot, you’re sweaty and your heart rate’s going,” the influencer explained to The Sun.
The “pressure tactics” eventually got the better of Hart and she clicked “yes” on a pop-up the callers had sent her.
Hart revealed: “And then as soon as you come off the phone, you realise you’ve been scammed and it’s like a deathly silence.”
“You just feel so stupid, so alone and so humiliated,” she added.
The scammers were able to steal £5,000 from her account.
The 31-year-old explained the fury and fear of having her money stolen: “I’ve worked for that money, and I have to live on it.”
Now, Hart wants other victims to come forward to share their experiences.
She said: “It’s not your fault. Don’t be embarrassed. These people are literally professionals – their profession is to extort money from people and you’ve just been a victim of that. By speaking out you can help others to avoid being scammed.”
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Hart has also teamed up with O2 to promote “Daisy” – an AI tool designed to wind up and waste scammers time.
Daisy takes the form of an older lady who will keep scam artists too busy to target real people.