The online response suggests people are now scared stiff. Sky News presenter Gillian Joseph said: “She scares me every time she’s on.”
Twitter user John Matthews added: “Tell me about it. I can’t watch it at night before I go bed.”
Another user, Allison Morris, added: “She looks like she’s had three ex-husbands who all died suddenly in questionable circumstances.”
The clip stars Bennett-Fox, who has also appeared in ITV drama Grantchester, as a seemingly helpful bank worker who pretends not to hear a caller’s unique security code.
Yet by getting them to divulge more digits she is able to access and fleece their account. The Barclays Digital Safety advert was launched after figures showed there had been 5.6 million fraud and cyber crime offences in the UK last year.
The figure accounts for half of all recorded crime, costing the country £11billion.
Research by Barclays revealed a quarter of the UK population has experienced a cyber fraud or scam in the past three years – 18 per cent were the victims of more than one fraud.
Head of digital safety Ross Martin said: “Crooks are using ever more sophisticated tactics to trick people into handing over their bank details.”
