Kate Garraway has revealed how filming Celebrity Traitors unexpectedly protected her from falling victim to a serious financial scam.
The Good Morning Britain presenter is one of 19 high-profile stars confirmed for the upcoming celebrity edition of the BBC’s hit game show, which will also feature Stephen Fry, Alan Carr, Paloma Faith, Charlotte Church and Jonathan Ross.
Speaking on Wednesday’s GMB during a discussion about scams, Garraway shared how a phone call she received while en route to filming almost cost her thousands.
She shared: “I was on the runway ready to fly to the castle and I got a phone call saying, ‘Did you spend nearly £8,000 at Jacksonville voters at 2am this morning’, and I said, ‘Absolutely not!’”.
Understandably distressed, the broadcaster said she was told to urgently contact her other banks, as they were “linked and accessible.”
She continued: “I told them I was about to take off so I can’t and then, when we landed, there was a producer there ready to take my phone off me as we weren’t allowed phones or internet while filming. I told them I’d been a victim of fraud.
“I had pockets of cash as I was paying off debt at the time, but normally there would have been no money to take out of my account.
“I was really panicking, and I quickly texted someone at the bank saying what happened and asking them to check and they quickly texted back asking the name of the person who called.”
However, thanks to producers granting her temporary access to her phone before filming began, she made a follow-up call and it turned out to be a scam.
“If I’d given them details of my other bank accounts they would have emptied it all, and they had done so with the other account,” she shared. “So, I think I am the only person in the world to have been saved by Traitors!”
She added that the scam had felt incredibly real: “They had the number, the name, the account details. They said, ‘Do it now, or your other accounts will go too.’ I genuinely felt the fear.”
While Garraway managed to avoid being defrauded, her GMB colleague Noel Phillips wasn’t so lucky.
Appearing via video from New York, the North America correspondent revealed he had recently lost his entire life savings in a scam.
Scammers pretending to be from Chase Bank convinced Phillips that his account had been compromised.
By the time he realised the truth, they had taken $30,000 (around £22,000).
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV and ITVX. Celebrity Traitors airs on BBC later this year.
