Crypto scammers stole £55,000 from my father

theguardian.com:

During the pandemic my 75-year-old father was targeted by scammers via email and WhatsApp who convinced him they were investment managers who could develop his life savings of £55,000 into a fantastic sum by investing in cryptocurrency.

He had recently retired and was worried he had not saved enough for his, and my mother’s, retirement, so was easy prey. He also has very little nous and gave the scammers, an outfit called MyCoinBanking, his account details including sort codes and account numbers.

The result was he lost the lot. I only found out when I completed his last tax return as he had been too embarrassed to tell us.

We filed a fraud claim with Barclays and its final decision was to reimburse him half of what was taken. Its rationale was he must share liability.

We are so upset. My dad is the victim. We areangry that Barclays would tell my dad – who struggles to use a mobile or the internet – that he is to blame.I think it has a duty of care.

The scammers were known to Barclays, so it should have flagged these transactions. That it didn’t is a failure on its part and it should give a full refund.

My parents now have very little money and are fearful about the future.

VS, Woking

Fraud levels have soared in recent years with the Financial Ombudsman Service, which mediates between consumers and companies, just this week warning of a rise in savers falling for fake investment schemes.

The scammers who targeted your father promised bumper returns to fund a comfortable retirement. Instead, they emptied his account.

We asked Barclays to review your father’s case but, unfortunately, it has not changed its mind. It has arrived at what is called a “shared blame” decision, which means there are elements of both customer and bank