Sally was fighting back tears as she told the BBC’s Dirty Rotten Scammers today how she was left “distraught” after scammers stole the money that her parents worked so hard for. In a sophisticated scam, fraudsters intercepted her emails and pretended to be her solicitors.

However, what Sally didn’t know at the time was that her details had been compromised and it was in fact fraudsters masquerading as her solicitors.

A few days later the bank rang her to question the payments she’d made that added up to just over £97,000.

It was only when she rang her solicitors to ask if they’d requested payment that she realised she’d been scammed.

Fighting back tears, Sally said: “I was distraught.”

However, Sally and her family have still been left with the scars and lost almost half of their inheritance money.

More than £25million was lost to scams between January 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.

People can report a scam or suspicious message to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

Dirty Rotten Scammers continues tomorrow at 10am on BBC One.