A HEREFORD councillor who was the victim of a scam which left him £600 out of pocket is warning others to be aware of the dangers of online fraud.

Cllr Chris Chappell, who covers the Hinton and Hunderton ward, said he felt ‘violated’, ‘emotional’ and ‘embarrassed’ following the incident in June and has now chosen to speak out in a bid to encourage others to report similar incidents.

A man claiming to be from BT called and said he understood there was a problem with Cllr Chappell’s laptop – which had been true.

Upon the advice of the caller, Cllr Chappell turned on the laptop and was then told to open Google before his Lloyd’s bank account appeared on screen.

“I said I didn’t do any online banking but he told me not to worry and he would get the computer sorted and then tell the bank’s security people," he said.

"Almost as he rang off a man called Benjamin Shaw called, claiming to be from Lloyd's Bank's fraud department based in London.”

The caller told Cllr Chappell to check whether the amount in his account was correct – but it showed £1,000 more than there should have been.

“He said it was an old trick that money launderers used to put money into an account. He said I was committing an offence and needed to do something about it or action would be taken,” he said.

He was told he would have to return the money to the launderers and needed to go to the post office in Putson to send £600 back to Bahrain via MoneyGram. The remaining £400, he was told, would need to be sent to China separately.

The caller had told him an appointment would be made with his bank manager on Monday but when he went into the Hereford branch shortly after sending the first amount, he apologised to the manager – who had no idea what he was talking about.

It was at that moment he knew he had been duped. The fraudsters had manipulated his bank account to make it look like there was too much money there and then warned he was breaking the law by holding money for launderers before telling him to return the cash.

He has since received other emails claiming to from HM Revenue & Customs and was called again by the scammer.

He wants others to be aware of the dangers of online fraud and not be ashamed or embarrassed if they are affected.

Talking about it – whether to friends, family or even a ward councillor – and reporting it to Action Fraud and the police is also important for dealing with it.

By speaking out as a well-known public figure, he hopes people will realise that anyone can be a victim of fraud.

Inspector Nick Semper, who leads on cyber crime in Herefordshire, also became the victim of an online scam when fraudsters used his old email address to try and sell Gucci accessories on Ebay.

He has offered three key pieces of advice for residents:

1) A bank will never use threats of account suspension/closure or ask for your PIN and card info via email. If in doubt, call them on their main number to verify.

2) Check statements regularly to identify unauthorised transactions. If you see something you don't recognise report it straight away.

3) When banking online don't use public insecure WiFi and ensure you use any additional security software your bank may provide to you.

To report fraud visit actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.