Adam Rickitt reveals his 'panic' when he realised he had been conned out of £50,000

Adam Rickitt has spoken out about the horrific bank scam that saw scammers withdraw nearly £50,000 from his account.

The ex-Coronation Street star appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday with his GMB correspondent Katy Rickitt, where he revealed his “panic” when he realized the money was gone.

Adam warned viewers about the sophisticated scam, saying he got his money back but insisting “the system needs to catch up and be on par with the scammers”.

Speaking with Katy at his side from the couple’s craft beer bottle shop in Cheshire, Adam said: “We’ve lost £50,000 or just close. The scary thing is that wasn’t the goal.”

“They wanted to empty our entire business account and it was purely by accident within that three hour process that I was able to determine that the money I was told would never leave our account had actually been left behind and it wasn’t Barclays me was spoke to.

GMB presenter Susanna Reid admitted: “I thought I had fallen for it to be honest. It was very convincing, they made you feel panicked that you had to act quickly and it occurred to me that you did everything you could to try and verify who these people were.’

Adam replied, ‘Be honest – they’re better at it than I am, or the system ever will be.’

‘You called me from the Barclay’s scam number, which I checked. I didn’t know you could ghost financial institutions.”

Explaining how the scam works, Adam continued: “Here’s a number displayed on your phone – an 0845 number – and I received a text message from Barclay’s and the number they called me from was the number the Barclays scam line, and essentially it turns out hackers are now able to spy on people’s numbers.’

“Most convincing was the fact that they knew too much about my account. They also knew every single cash withdrawal we made.’

“Even if you engage with them for 30 seconds you get such a panic… The whole process when I got scammed took over three hours.”

He added: “Barclays has been fantastic throughout the process. Yesterday morning we got a call that the money had been returned to us.

“Just because we got our money back doesn’t stop this crime for me. I think more needs to be done.”

Susanna asked: “Katy – you are an experienced correspondent, this is the type of case you would normally investigate on behalf of this program and you find yourself investigating it at home. What is the definitive information you need to follow to stop getting scammed?’

Katy said: “We’ve been pulling our hair out for the past seven days – he’s had three hours of hell, we’ve been through it all with a fine comb and the reason we wanted to come today is to try even one prevent person from being scammed.

“The only thing he could have done was hang up. This guy was his best friend, this guy supposedly stopped him from getting cheated but it turns out he was the cheat.’

“If your bank calls you, hang up and call the number on the back of your bank card… We want to see that change for other people.”

Adam added, “The system itself needs to catch up and catch up with the scammers.”

The ex-Coronation Street star first revealed that he had been the victim of bank fraud in an emotional Instagram video he posted on Friday.

In the video, a tearful Adam remarked, “You knew EVERYTHING about me.”

The soap actor admitted he could barely look his wife Katy in the eye after he was cheated on and said while some people would “laugh at him” he wanted to warn others not to make his mistake.

An Authorized Push Payment (APP) scam is when someone willingly transfers money from their own bank account to a scammer’s.

Scams can be very sophisticated, with criminals posing as legitimate organizations such as banks, government agencies, or the police.