Retired NHS doctor and others conned into investing – only to sink larger sums in trying to get cash back

• Revealed: the scammers who conned savers out of $35m
• How call centre scammers duped 6,000 people

A “sprat to catch a mackerel” is how one victim describes being reeled in by the skameri working from call centres hundreds of miles away in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. It is the local term for scammers and a huge data leak reveals the inner workings of a fraud network that has tricked Britons out of £9m.

Like in any call centre, the script is always the same. For the victim it starts by clicking on a (fake) social media ad or news alert. The promotion tips a great crypto investment but it’s a trick, leading only to fraudsters impersonating a real business.