Matthew Wright reveals he was conned out of nearly £10,000 when he fell ‘hook, line and sinker’ for conmen who were pretending to be his builder
- Matthew Wright lost almost £10,000 in elaborate internet scam this summer
- Conmen hacked his builder’s email and convinced him to send them cash
- Days later he met the trader in person and was asked to pay his fee
- Wright reported it to police but said bank is having difficulty retrieving funds
Matthew Wright has revealed he was conned out of almost £10,000 as part of an ‘elaborate con’ this summer.
The 53-year-old broadcaster, speaking on his new talkRADIO show, said he lost the cash after fraudsters hacked into his builder’s email address and carried on a correspondence without the trader realising.
Wright said he had been working with the builder overseas for around three years and had no reason to suspect any wrongdoing.
Broadcaster Matthew Wright, pictured at his new show on talkRADIO, revealed how he was conned out of almost £10,000 this summer in an elaborate email scam
The former host of Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff said: ‘I was doing a bit of business with a builder overseas. We had been working together off and on for about three years.
‘We were coming towards the end of a project and I had to make a final payment.
‘As it comes to the end of the project, I receive some emails from the builder and they are chatty.
‘Then, this is probably when I should have heard alarm bells but didn’t, he said the good news is we can pay the money into a UK account, instead of my overseas account where you would have to pay loads more tax. Complicated.
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‘Won’t that be great because I am doing some business with somebody else in the UK.’
Wright, who revealed earlier this week he and his wife Amelia were expecting a baby after eight years of IVF treatment, said he transferred the cash only to be asked if he could send more money for ‘personal use’.
He added: ‘Two days later I receive another email from my builder saying ‘thanks very much for the money, looking forward to seeing you next week’ because I was going away on holiday to hook up with him.
‘He said “before you get here I am personally a little bit hard up, could you see me right by giving me a little bit more, £1,500 and I will give it back to you when we meet up”.
Wright, left on This Morning, revealed earlier this week his wife Amelia, right with Wright, was pregnant with a baby girl after they went through eight years of IVF treatment
‘I was going to see him in three days so I thought sure.
‘My builder came three days later and said ‘are you going to pay me’, and I said ‘I already have’.
‘So what transpired is that my builder’s email was hacked, they read all the email exchange that we had over three years so they knew all the names and all the work we had been doing.
‘They then copied his email address but changed one letter of his name so it looked broadly the same and I just fell for it hook, line and sinker. Nearly £10,000 out of pocket. So beware, ladies and gentlemen.’
He added he went to his bank, who were ‘off hand’ about getting the money back and told him it would take two weeks.
Wright said he then had to spend three hours in an interview and produce a raft of documents, as did his wife.
He added the bank told him they could not get the money back from the other account directly in case they were ‘coerced’.
The broadcaster and his wife shared the news on Twitter, pictured, and thanked wellwishers for their messages of support
A frustrated Wright added: ‘But I do have a crime number. Hooray. Try living on a crime number…’
He added: ‘I don’t really care if he has been coerced or beaten black and blue, he’s got my money!’
Wright said the process to retrieve his money was still ongoing.
Wright took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to excitedly share his wife’s news with his more than 51,000 followers.
He sparked a congratulatory storm after retweeting Amelia’s note, which read: ‘After 8 challenging years of IVF, we are thrilled to announce that on our last roll of the dice, we got lucky and are expecting a baby girl. Woo hoo!’
He later shared the news on his radio show and then wrote on Twitter: ‘Hope you enjoyed today’s show as much as we did making it…
‘Ta for all your kind words re @mrsameliawright and pregnancy. She’s been thru hell she really has. Feel super blessed to have such lovely followers.’
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