Couple who lost £8,000 savings after impostor pretending to be TalkTalk employee hacked their bank account

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Barbara and Harold Manley, a retired engineer, had nearly £8,000 stolen after someone posing as a TalkTalk employee hacked into their bank account. 

The impostor called the couple, both in their 80s, on Tuesday – the day before TalkTalk claim the hack took place – telling them that the internet connection at their Kent home was faulty.

He then told them that because this problem was TalkTalk’s fault, it needed to credit their account with £200. 

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Harold Manley and his wife Barbara lost their life savings of more than £8,000 in the TalkTalk scam

It is still not clear who was behind the hack on TalkTalk's website, although Russian criminals are most likely

But when Mrs Manley, 82, a retired nurse, checked her bank account it looked like she had an extra £5,200. 

She told the man posing as a TalkTalk employee that she had been overpaid and wanted to return the money – to which she was told to pay back £4,900 following his instructions.

Two days later she discovered this sum plus a further £3,000 had been taken from her account. 

The couple’s daughter Sarah said: ‘All TalkTalk did was offer them free phone calls and a freeview box. Shame on TalkTalk – that money was what my parents live on.’

Hilary Foster, a barristers’ practice manager from Surbiton, Surrey, said she discovered on Friday morning that her account had been targeted by the cyber-hackers. ‘It’s outrageous that TalkTalk didn’t tell me about the risk earlier,’ said the 43-year-old.

‘They’ve known since Wednesday and I only found out this morning when I checked my account. I’ve lost more than £600 and been left overdrawn. The first question my bank asked me when I called them to report it was whether I was a TalkTalk customer.’